Longtime fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers experienced a familiar feeling on Friday night.
Down to the team’s last out, trailing in Game 1 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium, on a bad leg, Freddie Freeman belted a home run to the right field bleachers at 8:37 p.m. PST to lift L.A. to a 1-0 series lead.
Just like in 1988, when — down to the team’s last out, trailing in Game 1 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium, on a bad leg, Kirk Gibson belted a home run to the right field bleachers at 8:37 p.m. PST to lift L.A. to a 1-0 series lead.
Déjà vu.
The parallels are uncanny, but Freeman’s was worth more runs. He hit the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history on Friday to beat the New York Yankees 6-3 in the 10th inning.
Gibson’s was a two-run shot to defeat the Oakland Athletics 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth.
Both players were also nursing injuries at the time of their hero moments. Gibson famously was hobbled, which could be seen as he jogged the basepaths, with a hamstring injury. That legendary at-bat was his only appearance in that 1988 World Series.
Freeman missed three games of the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets with an ankle injury. He admitted post game that he wasn’t 100% on Friday.
“Right when I ran out to give high-fives to my teammates, that felt pretty good because that was the first time I ran all week,” Freeman said with a laugh to FOX’s Ken Rosenthal on the World Series broadcast.
The 1988 Dodgers wound up beating the 104-win A’s in five games. With a World Series title with a massive walk-off in Game 1 in the team’s past, perhaps a swift beat down of another American League juggernaut is also in the Dodgers future?
