When Freddie Freeman hoisted the World Series trophy high into the New York night, he knew what it meant to this club. It validated a golden era and crossed the threshold of baseball immortality.
A game that was supposed to be a rout turned into one of the most compelling of World Series in history. With the Yankees leading 5-1 in the fifth inning, the Dodgers struck back with five runs fueled by egregious errors from the Yankees defense. First, center fielder Aaron Judge muffed a line drive off the bat of Kike Hernandez. Then shortstop Anthony Volpe spiked a throw to first base on Shohei Ohtani’s ground ball. And finally, catcher Austin Romine couldn’t cover the bag on a grounder by Mookie Betts to load the bases.
What made this a special game was that it came down to the final six outs. Blake Treinen got Giancarlo Stanton to fly out and struck out Anthony Rizzo to end the threat, sending the game to the ninth with Los Angeles leading 7-6.
What makes this a special World Series is that it features several left-on-left matchups. The Yankees feature a pair of lefties in Max Fried and Carlos Rodon, while the Cubs have Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, both left-handed sluggers. In addition, the two teams combined for a total of 37 left-on-left starts this season.