October 19, 2025 • 31 mins
With the Dodgers winning the National League pennant in a historic game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Dodger Stadium on Friday night — in which Shohei Ohtani went 6 shutout innings, struck out 10, and got the win as a the starting pitcher; and also hit 3 tape-measure home runs — the Dodgers are advancing to the 2025 World Series. To get ready for the Fall Classic, which starts Friday night, we look back on last year's iconic Game 1 of the 2024 World Series, with this DBD Classic re-broadcast.
Originally published October 28, 2024.
As the World Series heads to the Bronx for game 3 tonight, October 28, 2024, let's take a look back on the story of the first two games, which were played in L.A. The afterglow of game 1 is strong for Richard, who attended with his sister, and witnessed history when Freddie Freeman became the first person in Major League history to hit a walk-off grand slam homerun to win a World Series game, in a moment that mirrors the most-famous homerun in Los Angeles Dodgers history: Kirk Gibson's walk-off homer to win game 1 of the 1988 World Series. (And Richard called it.)
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
What's up, Dodger Blue Dreamers, Richard, here the baseball. It's
been good and the Los Angeles Dodgers are going back
to the World Series. Yes, the Dodgers won the National
League pennant handily with a four game sweep over the
Milwaukee Brewers, clinching it at Dodger Stadium on Friday night
(00:26):
with the game for the Ages show hey Otani shining
in what people are calling the best individual baseball performance
in the postseason. Ever, not only did Sho Hay start
the game on the mound for the Dodgers and record
ten strikeouts over six shutout innings, he also hit three
(00:50):
incredible home runs, including one that left the ballpark. It
landed on the roof of the pavilion, something I have
never seen. It's just superhuman. You can just see in
the reactions that the broadcast camera show of close ups
of the Dodgers players in the dugout, you know, just mouths,
a gape, hands on their heads, bug eyed, and just
(01:13):
to try to sum it up, only twelve hitters have
ever hit three home runs in a postseason game like
Kik did it a few years ago and we still
talk about it, and that has a lot to do
with why Keyk's reputation in October is so great, and
only twenty six pitchers have ever recorded a ten plus
(01:35):
strikeout game in a postseason start. So Shohey just did
both of those things in one game. He pretty much
single handedly won the game against the Brewers and sent
his team back to the World Series. So vibes are
high in the city of Los Angeles as we await
the results of the American League Championship Series. As of
(01:59):
this writing on Sunday morning, October nineteenth, that series is
undecided going into a Game six. It will either be
the Seattle Mariners or the Toronto Blue Jays facing the Dodgers.
The Seattle Mariners have never been to the World Series,
so that's a pretty great story. And the Blue Jays,
(02:20):
I'll never forget. It was right around the time I
was falling in love with baseball as a kid. They
won back to back World Series titles themselves in nineteen
ninety two and nineteen ninety three, and we've reminded you
on this show that nobody has gone back to back
since the New York Yankees, who won it three straight
from ninety eight to two thousand. That is what the
(02:42):
Dodgers are trying to do, and with Friday Nights win,
they officially had punched their ticket to a historic possibility,
a back to back World Series win and Show Hayes
game and how the Dodgers are advancing is an illustration
of how baseball games around this time of year can
(03:04):
take on this magic, iconic quality. And when we look
back on last year's World Series against the Yankees, that
Game one was the iconic game, the Freddie Freeman walk
off Grand Slam game. I was there. It was the
most memorable communal event I think that I have ever
(03:25):
been a part of. Truly, nothing like being in a
stadium when something like that happens. And I quickly wrote
and produced this episode about it, which we will rebroadcast today.
Hope this gets you excited for the World Series, which
starts on Friday, October twenty fourth, just less than a
week away. Enjoy this rebroadcast of this DBD classic. Let
(03:52):
Freeman Ring talk to you again soon.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Time.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Gord DoD Kirk fucking Gibson. Oh my god, Oh my god,
you called it. It hasn't even happened live on TV yet.
I was listening to the radio and oh, my god,
you called it Richard his Kirk Gibson moment. Are you
kidding me?
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
This is already the best world series ever. It still
hasn't even happened on the TV. Right now, it's about
to happen. Oh my god, I'm like living in the
future and could tell it. Oh my freaking goshhot shot.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Baseball can make you feel things, it can make you
believe in things, and it can blow your mind. Already
in this World series, I've seen things I wouldn't even
dare to dream about, except that if you listen to
this show, you know I kind of did call it.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
That's the ball right field sees good. Jeddy, make Freddy
game one live series?
Speaker 1 (05:43):
How about them Dodgers? What a game on Friday Night?
And another great one on Saturday? And the Boys in
Blue are up in this best of seven series two
games to none. As the Fall Classic travels to New York,
Freddy Freeman's ol the show on Friday Night with a
home run that will be remembered for as long as
(06:05):
baseball will be played, and one that means everything to
me knowing what Freddy has been through this season. It's
a story of overcoming, a story of persevering and a
triumph of a champion, and as we get ready for
a guaranteed vibe shift as the Dodgers and Yankees traveled
to the Bronx, I want to take a moment to
(06:26):
bask in the afterglow and look back on the first
two games of this series. And when we do, there
is one image Freddie Freeman, his right arm stretched out
high holding a black painted, gloss finished bat gleaming in
the lights of Dodgers Stadium like a sword or a torch,
a statue of liberty pose as his walk off Grand
(06:50):
Slam home run ball to win Game one of the
World Series sales into the right field pavilion and Dodger
Stadium explodes, just like it did at the end of
Game one of the nineteen eighty eight World Series, except
I was there, and this is a moment I will
never ever forget. Welcome to Dodger Blue Dream. I'm Richard Parks.
(07:13):
The third Today's episode Let Freeman Ring, My fricking gosh,
the story of Games one and two of the twenty
twenty four World Series. Let's go. I'm so excited. I
(07:46):
just want to say, I'm so excited to be here.
I love you very much. I'm so glad to be
here with you my first World Series I.
Speaker 6 (07:53):
Love you zero.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Friday night, I went to my first World Series game
with my sister Elizabe after this just live on bonus time,
you know, and it was everything that I could have
hoped for and much much more. In lieu of a
(08:17):
ceremonial first pitch, there was a moment of silence for
Fernando Valenzuela, the Los Angeles Dodgers icon who died last
week at the age of sixty three. As Fernando Wood
every time you pitch. I knew that this game would
(08:44):
be memorable, but I couldn't have anticipated that I would
be there to witness a game one that will go
down in baseball history with the Dodgers victorious, and the
next day I'd happily taken the game on my couch
and watch the Dodgers win again. The Boys in Blue
are up two games to none as the World Series
(09:04):
heads to New York City, and it already feels like
we've seen so much contributions from up and down the lineup.
Great starts from Jack Flaherty and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, our dows
from the bullpen shutting things down, and the Dodgers are
just looking like the better baseball team. But the story
of this series so far is this game won and
(09:26):
the extra inning heroics of Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman.
With the stars and stripes of old glory waving in
the breeze, the jumbo tron flash and image of Freddy's face,
blonde hair, crewcut, pearly white veneers, he looks like Captain America.
(09:52):
But if you know what Freddy's been through this season,
you know he's a real person who this year was
tested like never before. Teddy's three year old son Max
almost died this year, and for the last month he's
been playing through pain with a sprained ankle. But Freddy
didn't quit, and his son is now on the mend,
(10:13):
and he found his way back to the team, and
thank goodness he did. The performance he would put on
Friday night felt like the climax in the theater play
of the twenty twenty four Dodgers baseball season. Our beloved
national pastime at its very best, and I got to
see it. The box score for Game one says six
(10:39):
to three, but for a lot of this game. It
was way closer than that. The Yankees had their ace
on the mound, Garrett Cole, and he looked very, very good.
And you all know that my biggest fear going into
this series was our starting pitching. And I want to
give a shout out to Burbank's own, the Harvard Westlake
alum Erewan Smoothie make in Jack Flaherty, who ended up
(11:02):
going five and a third and giving up two runs,
but he really kept us in this game. It was
actually the Dodgers who drew first blood.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
My basketball spunge towards the right, fifth quarters, Sodokik.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Triple to right on a ball that Juan Soto misplayed,
and Will Smith got the job done, lifts it to
right field, Soto Zoe getting a sack fight to right
to score key k come Sernandez.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
There comes Sodo's throw bang back, but he's in safe.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
One zero Dodgers. But then the Yankees Big three, well,
actually the big two because Aaron Judge, the presumptive American
League MVP, he hasn't been hitting at all.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Judge is down swinging for the third time.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
It was Soto who singled to center to lead off
the sixth, and then John Carlos Stanton another la kid
Notre Dame High.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
School Golf's one way back there scraping the sky.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Give it the Yankee side hit a four hundred and
twelve foot moonshot into the left field pavilion and that's
what Chase Flaherty out of the game two to one
Yanks in the sixth, But then in.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
The eighth, right center field Soda on the lend of
the track gets up the top of the wall.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Show hey, he got his first World Series hit. Another
bad play by Sodo and show heyes. At third sooy
O Tani tech starred ninety massive feet and in the
next to bat Mooki drove him in with the sackfly
Bets finds up to center field. It's judge to pull
it in, but it's tied. It's hooky. Bets drives in
(12:34):
and show hey Tani tie. Game at two's a great game.
Neck and neck. Tit for tat And here's where it
gets interesting. Let's go to the top of the tenth inning.
Blake Trinan, one of our most ferocious dowgs, comes in
out of the bullpen to face Jazz Chisholm Junior, the
speedy Yankees third baseman, who reaches on a single there,
(12:59):
choosing to Will Smith. Trinan's got a slow movement out
of the stretch and Jazz Chisholm steals seconds and third and.
Speaker 7 (13:06):
Now stress on the infield they're gonna have to bring
him in.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Didn't stop.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Edmund can't get him out of his slave and the.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yankees sick trying to finishes the top of the tenth.
But now it's three two Yanks last up. The Dodger's
gotta get it done in the bottom of the tenth
or the game's over. To lead off the bottom of
the tenth, Will Smith flies out to right. Then Gavin
Lux works a walk and Tommy Edmund reaches on an
(13:35):
infield single on a ball Yankee second basement Glaber Torres
couldn't make a play on, which could have gone for two.
Edmunds on first, and Chris Taylor comes in to pinch
run for Lux at second. And guess what time it is.
That's right, it's showtime. Baby shohey Otani is announced as
(13:58):
the batter, and Yankees manager Aaron Boone calls to the
bullpen for left handed pitcher Nasty Nestor Cortes, who hadn't
pitched in a ballgame in thirty seven days. Let's dig
in on the nest decision because it will prove to
be pivotal.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
And ness had not pitched some September eighteenth.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Why did you like him in that tenth er?
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Just like the matchup?
Speaker 1 (14:24):
A reporter asked Boone about his decision in a postgame interview.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
The reality is he's been throwing the ball really well
the last few weeks, as he's gotten ready for this.
I knew with one out there would be tough to
double up show Hey. If Tim Hill gets him on
the ground and then move him behind him, his tough
match up there.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
So Boone says he liked the matchup. Lefty on lefty.
Generally speaking, that's a disadvantage to a left handed batter,
and over the course of his career, Shohey was just
two for twelve against nasty Nestor Cortes. When asked how
that fact into his decision, Boone said, a little bit.
(15:03):
Now on the flip side, Nestor hadn't pitched for over
a month. He was coming off an injury, and here
he is coming in with two men on and just
one out with the one run lead in the bottom
of the tenth inning with the winning run on base
in the World Series, to face the greatest baseball player
(15:24):
on planet Earth. The Yankees had another lefty in their bullpen.
His name is Tim Hill. The basic difference between Nestor
and Hill is that Nestor's more likely to get a strikeout.
With Hill, a hitter is more likely to make contact,
and as Boone said, show Hey, we'll be tough to
double up. He's fast, So he's bringing in Nestor to
(15:45):
go for the strikeout, but not just one strikeout. He
has to get two. And Major League Baseball has a
three batter minimum rule. Any pitcher must face at least
three batters before they can be taken out of a game,
the only exception being if the inning ends before they
do so. Boonie's bringing Nasty Nestor in to face show
(16:07):
Hey Otani and Mookie Betts and if either of them
gets on Freddie Freeman, the MB three, three of the
greatest hitters alive. Even a base hit could be a killer.
Runners on first and second, three two ballgame. Nasty Nestor
(16:27):
with his doe eyes and his pitch black mustache. The
one thing that I know about his backstory. He takes
the subway home from the ballpark after games at Yankee Stadium,
sho Hey Otani striding to the plate.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
I don't know if you ever love a matchup against Otani,
but you know, you know, I felt like, you know,
I felt like Nestor could give a certain.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Shot at show Hey stands in. Nestor gets the sign
and the pitch.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Says is lifted the left field. Verdugo runs over and
makes the grap Did he hold on?
Speaker 8 (17:06):
He did?
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Alex Verdugo makes the grab. He goes out of play
with the Ghidotani.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
On one pitch, on a foul ball that goes the
opposite way off the end of show Hayes bat, Yankees
left fielder Alex Verdugo makes a spectacular running catch, getting
clotheslined by the low wall in foul territory off of
left field and spilling over oursover into the stands. This
(17:37):
was a majorly deflating moment. On one pitch, Nasty Nester
had gotten sho Hey Otani to pop out and the
Dodgers were down to their final out just like that,
But because Alex Verdugo's momentum carried him over the wall
all the way into the seats and out of play.
(17:59):
A relatively obscure baseball rule Official Baseball rule five point
ZHO nine A one meant that the Dodger runners on
first and second were awarded an additional ninety feet, meaning
now there were runners on second and third, the potential
tying and go ahead runs in scoring position and Mooki
(18:21):
Bets coming to the plate.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Waved off Aaron Boone in the training stat and somewhat
fittingly here you know, with all the talk about show
hey o Tani, you now have Mooki Bets coming to
the plate the plate.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
And Yankees manager Aaron Boone makes his second pivotal decision
of the bottom of the tenth inning. With first base open,
Boonie holds up four fingers walking Mookie Bets himself an
MVP incredible hitter who happens to be oh for five
lifetime against nasty nester. But Boonie wanted to set up
(18:59):
the force out at any base and take his chances
lefty against lefty against fab five Freddie Well.
Speaker 7 (19:07):
The good news here for Dodgers is Freddie Freeman doesn't
necessarily have to do anything but get a single and
jogged a first, but beating something out of the ground
will be limited because of his ankle.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
If you've been following along with this show, you know
that Freddie is playing hurt. He rolled over his ankle
running out a ground ball to first base during the
Dodgers NL West clinching win at home in late September,
and so this entire postseason, Freddie has been playing through pain.
He even occasionally spends the night at the ballpark with
(19:48):
a member of the training staff to keep up with
the treatments he needs to do just to be able
to stay in the lineup, and he hasn't played in
every single game this postseason, even though Freddie is famous
for playing day in and day out in an age
where that is a rarity. But if you've been listening
to this show, you also know this season Freddie made
(20:10):
an exception for that habit when his three year old
son Maximus was stricken by a rare neurological condition called
Gillam bare sendra Freddy Freeman was scratched from the lineup.
Today he is headed back child who had just days
before been doing front flips, woke up one day with.
Speaker 9 (20:28):
A limp and by Monday night he couldn't walk anymore,
and we took him everywhere. A lot of people are
telling us and telling us it was transiit cinivitis.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Then he was paralyzed at one point from the neck down,
hospitalized on a ventilator, and so Freddie took some time
away from the team to be at his son's side.
Speaker 9 (20:52):
So speaking one of your kids.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Later fighting, Max's incredible recovery and Freddy's return to the
team was one of the most inspiring stories to come
out of the twenty twenty four baseball season. The entire
team started wearing t shirts that read Max Strong, and
(21:18):
it was also the subject of our episode, Freddie's Return.
It's been said that during the regular season, Freddy's ankle
injury would have placed him on the IL for four
to eight weeks, while a sprained ankle in no way
compares to the harrowing experience Freddy went through with his
son Max. Both of these are examples of the grit
(21:39):
Freddie Freeman plays with. Freddy could have quit baseball this year,
and he could easily be sitting out this postseason against
his own wishes. He's had to stay out of a
couple games, but with the World Series on the line,
Freddie has found a way to stay in the lineup.
He wants to help his team, and as a hobbled
(22:02):
Freddie Freeman strolled to the plate with the game on
the line in the bottom of the tenth inning of
the World Series Game one at Dodger Stadium, it was
impossible not to think of Game one of the nineteen
eighty eight World Series when another hobbled, left handed hitting
MVP came to the plate in the bottom of the
(22:25):
ninth in the same situation Mande's coming up. In nineteen
eighty eight, the last year that the Dodgers won a
World Series that was followed by a parade in the
streets of Los Angeles. The Dodgers faced the Oakland Athletics
in Game one at Dodger Stadium. Kurt Dibson, who was
(22:48):
the National League MVP that year, had hurt his leg
in the National League Championship Series against the Mets, the
same franchise that the Dodgers just beat to make it
to the World Series this year, and while he was
so badly hobbled that he didn't make the start that day,
Gibson made an appearance in the bottom of the ninth
inning with two outs as a pinch hitter against Ace
(23:10):
oakland A's reliever Dennis Eckersley, with Vince Scully on the.
Speaker 8 (23:14):
Call, with too bad leg, the bad left hand string,
and the swollen right knee, and with two out, do
you talk about a roll of the dice?
Speaker 1 (23:25):
This is it.
Speaker 8 (23:26):
Sack's waiting on deck for the game right now, is
at the bike.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
High fly ball in the right veil.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
She is gone.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
And he hit the most famous home run in Los
Angeles Dodgers' history, a walk off, game winning blast into
the right field pavilion that sent the stadium into a
frenzy as Gibson rounded the bases, pumping his fist, laboring
with a bad limp, and after Gibby's incredible home run,
the Dodgers went on to beat the heavily favored oakland
(24:03):
A's with the team that also included Fernando Valenzuela.
Speaker 8 (24:08):
In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Has happened, happened, And so now with all of that context,
you can see why for weeks I've been hesitantly suggesting
to friends that hey, with the Dodgers facing the Mets
again and the CS and a hobbled left handed hitter
playing through pain in the postseason, a team leader. Maybe
the stage is set for Freddie Freeman's Kirk Gibson moment.
(24:37):
I even said it on an episode of this show,
because it's pretty much a distillate of what a Dodger
blue dream means to me. I was six years old
in nineteen eighty eight, but I wasn't at Dodger Stadium,
and I wasn't yet following baseball. It was very shortly
(25:00):
thereafter that I fell so deeply in love with the
Dodgers and baseball. Just a little late to the party.
And the only time the Dodgers have won the World
Series since nineteen eighty eight was twenty twenty, and because
of COVID, the games weren't played at Dodger Stadium, and
La didn't get to celebrate with the parade.
Speaker 7 (25:20):
Something out in the ground will be limited because of
his ankle.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Now, the kind of at bat that every kid that
plays baseball dreams of one day happen, You'll tell yourself
right all right, bottom of the ten bases loaded World
Series one run game, Dodgers Yankees reality for Freddie Freeman.
Right here tailor the time run Edmund, the winning run
(25:49):
Cortez deliveries Freeman.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
It's about right, Fees goes.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
It felt like a tidal wave of ecstasy had crashed
into the stadium and swept us away. We're dancing, we're singing,
we're hugging strangers.
Speaker 6 (26:35):
I don't love bat flips, but this was such a
good bat flip.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
He knows it's gone. He raises his bat like the
Statue of Liberty and watches the home run ball disappear
into the right field pavilion, and then he just gently
releases his grip and the bat falls to the ground,
the first ever walk off Grand Slam in World Series history.
To think of what he's been through this year makes
(27:09):
it so much more meaningful that it was Freddie who
won the game for us. It makes you want to
persevere in the face of whatever your problems are and
to be a champion the way that man is. I
love Freddie Freeman, and you know he has it all.
Even a person like that will run into harrowing challenges
(27:31):
in his life, and it's about how you deal with them.
He went through all of that and found a way
to give himself a chance to blow our minds. The
way that he did that is inspiring. And Kurt Gibson
hit that home run at eight thirty seven pm, and
Freddie Freeman hit his home run at eight thirty seven pm. Obviously,
(27:55):
without trying to jinx anything, it just feels like this
is our year. I just feel fortunate that I was there,
and that vibe continued the next day with another great
game with a lot of the same themes. Freddie hit
another home run, he went back to back with Tao
and Tommy Edmund hit one out two a stellar outing
(28:16):
from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who gave up just one hit, a
solo home run to Juan Soto, and the Yankees had
just one hit into the eighth inning on Saturday night.
And it's not just that we're playing better defense. Nobody
has questioned a single move by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts,
and the vibes in the city are so high. Every
(28:36):
time I leave the house, I have multiple conversations about
the Dodgers with strangers, and the way this feels communal
in the ballpark and throughout the entire city is a
reminder that we all go through stuff, and we deserve
to feel good sometimes, So let's enjoy this, Los Angeles.
Don't be afraid to let yourself feel good when things
(28:59):
are going great. Dave Roberts top step wrapping a long
word for word with ice Cube to good day. Come on,
that's pure la. Damn right. It was a good day.
But of course now we're headed for a vibe shift.
(29:19):
Game three of the World Series kicks off tonight at
five eight, very specifically Pacific time, but it's not on
the best coast. It's in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium,
and we've got Walker Buehler going up against Clark Schmidt.
The Yankees lineup hasn't been doing a whole lot, and
we've shut Aaron Judge down completely, but now they got
(29:41):
the home field advantage, first time the World Series is
being played in the Bronx since two thousand and nine,
and they got the short porch out there. If the
Yankees lineup gets to Bueller, it's something to watch out for,
because the plan is to pitch a bullpen game for
Game four. And let me give you a tip, watch
out for the turtleneck Brent Honeywell Junior. If he's coming
(30:02):
in to eat innings. Hopefully he's able to give us
some length and save the Dowgs in the bullpen, the
high leverage guys, because if needed, we're staying in New
York for Game five, which would be played on Thursday.
A two zero lead sounds commanding, and of course the
odds are greatly in our favor in this best of
seven series. But if you know anything about postseason baseball,
(30:26):
you know the momentum can shift like that. Dodger Blue
Dream is written and produced by Me Richard Parks. The
third original music in this episode by William Ryan Fritch,
Jonathan Snipes the Blasting Company, and by Me. Production assistants
(30:48):
on this episode from Tyler Hill and Elizabeth Parks Kibbi.
Special thanks to Thomas Batty, Eli Horowitz, Caitlin Esh, Jordan Bass,
and Brian Hidalgo, whose voice you heard at the top
of the show, sounding as excited as we all felt
when Freddie hit that one out. If you like Dodger
(31:09):
Blue Dream, please check us out on Patreon. Go to
patreon dot com slash Dodger Blue Dream. We've got stickers,
we've got shirts, and we finally set up a way
for you to support this independent production. We'll be back
soon with more episodes. Thank you very much for listening.
(31:30):
Let's go Dodgers.
What's up, Dodger Blue Dreamers, Richard, here the baseball. It's
been good and the Los Angeles Dodgers are going back
to the World Series. Yes, the Dodgers won the National
League pennant handily with a four game sweep over the
Milwaukee Brewers, clinching it at Dodger Stadium on Friday night
(00:26):
with the game for the Ages show hey Otani shining
in what people are calling the best individual baseball performance
in the postseason. Ever, not only did Sho Hay start
the game on the mound for the Dodgers and record
ten strikeouts over six shutout innings, he also hit three
(00:50):
incredible home runs, including one that left the ballpark. It
landed on the roof of the pavilion, something I have
never seen. It's just superhuman. You can just see in
the reactions that the broadcast camera show of close ups
of the Dodgers players in the dugout, you know, just mouths,
a gape, hands on their heads, bug eyed, and just
(01:13):
to try to sum it up, only twelve hitters have
ever hit three home runs in a postseason game like
Kik did it a few years ago and we still
talk about it, and that has a lot to do
with why Keyk's reputation in October is so great, and
only twenty six pitchers have ever recorded a ten plus
(01:35):
strikeout game in a postseason start. So Shohey just did
both of those things in one game. He pretty much
single handedly won the game against the Brewers and sent
his team back to the World Series. So vibes are
high in the city of Los Angeles as we await
the results of the American League Championship Series. As of
(01:59):
this writing on Sunday morning, October nineteenth, that series is
undecided going into a Game six. It will either be
the Seattle Mariners or the Toronto Blue Jays facing the Dodgers.
The Seattle Mariners have never been to the World Series,
so that's a pretty great story. And the Blue Jays,
(02:20):
I'll never forget. It was right around the time I
was falling in love with baseball as a kid. They
won back to back World Series titles themselves in nineteen
ninety two and nineteen ninety three, and we've reminded you
on this show that nobody has gone back to back
since the New York Yankees, who won it three straight
from ninety eight to two thousand. That is what the
(02:42):
Dodgers are trying to do, and with Friday Nights win,
they officially had punched their ticket to a historic possibility,
a back to back World Series win and Show Hayes
game and how the Dodgers are advancing is an illustration
of how baseball games around this time of year can
(03:04):
take on this magic, iconic quality. And when we look
back on last year's World Series against the Yankees, that
Game one was the iconic game, the Freddie Freeman walk
off Grand Slam game. I was there. It was the
most memorable communal event I think that I have ever
(03:25):
been a part of. Truly, nothing like being in a
stadium when something like that happens. And I quickly wrote
and produced this episode about it, which we will rebroadcast today.
Hope this gets you excited for the World Series, which
starts on Friday, October twenty fourth, just less than a
week away. Enjoy this rebroadcast of this DBD classic. Let
(03:52):
Freeman Ring talk to you again soon.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Time.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Gord DoD Kirk fucking Gibson. Oh my god, Oh my god,
you called it. It hasn't even happened live on TV yet.
I was listening to the radio and oh, my god,
you called it Richard his Kirk Gibson moment. Are you
kidding me?
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
This is already the best world series ever. It still
hasn't even happened on the TV. Right now, it's about
to happen. Oh my god, I'm like living in the
future and could tell it. Oh my freaking goshhot shot.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Baseball can make you feel things, it can make you
believe in things, and it can blow your mind. Already
in this World series, I've seen things I wouldn't even
dare to dream about, except that if you listen to
this show, you know I kind of did call it.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
That's the ball right field sees good. Jeddy, make Freddy
game one live series?
Speaker 1 (05:43):
How about them Dodgers? What a game on Friday Night?
And another great one on Saturday? And the Boys in
Blue are up in this best of seven series two
games to none. As the Fall Classic travels to New York,
Freddy Freeman's ol the show on Friday Night with a
home run that will be remembered for as long as
(06:05):
baseball will be played, and one that means everything to
me knowing what Freddy has been through this season. It's
a story of overcoming, a story of persevering and a
triumph of a champion, and as we get ready for
a guaranteed vibe shift as the Dodgers and Yankees traveled
to the Bronx, I want to take a moment to
(06:26):
bask in the afterglow and look back on the first
two games of this series. And when we do, there
is one image Freddie Freeman, his right arm stretched out
high holding a black painted, gloss finished bat gleaming in
the lights of Dodgers Stadium like a sword or a torch,
a statue of liberty pose as his walk off Grand
(06:50):
Slam home run ball to win Game one of the
World Series sales into the right field pavilion and Dodger
Stadium explodes, just like it did at the end of
Game one of the nineteen eighty eight World Series, except
I was there, and this is a moment I will
never ever forget. Welcome to Dodger Blue Dream. I'm Richard Parks.
(07:13):
The third Today's episode Let Freeman Ring, My fricking gosh,
the story of Games one and two of the twenty
twenty four World Series. Let's go. I'm so excited. I
(07:46):
just want to say, I'm so excited to be here.
I love you very much. I'm so glad to be
here with you my first World Series I.
Speaker 6 (07:53):
Love you zero.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Friday night, I went to my first World Series game
with my sister Elizabe after this just live on bonus time,
you know, and it was everything that I could have
hoped for and much much more. In lieu of a
(08:17):
ceremonial first pitch, there was a moment of silence for
Fernando Valenzuela, the Los Angeles Dodgers icon who died last
week at the age of sixty three. As Fernando Wood
every time you pitch. I knew that this game would
(08:44):
be memorable, but I couldn't have anticipated that I would
be there to witness a game one that will go
down in baseball history with the Dodgers victorious, and the
next day I'd happily taken the game on my couch
and watch the Dodgers win again. The Boys in Blue
are up two games to none as the World Series
(09:04):
heads to New York City, and it already feels like
we've seen so much contributions from up and down the lineup.
Great starts from Jack Flaherty and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, our dows
from the bullpen shutting things down, and the Dodgers are
just looking like the better baseball team. But the story
of this series so far is this game won and
(09:26):
the extra inning heroics of Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman.
With the stars and stripes of old glory waving in
the breeze, the jumbo tron flash and image of Freddy's face,
blonde hair, crewcut, pearly white veneers, he looks like Captain America.
(09:52):
But if you know what Freddy's been through this season,
you know he's a real person who this year was
tested like never before. Teddy's three year old son Max
almost died this year, and for the last month he's
been playing through pain with a sprained ankle. But Freddy
didn't quit, and his son is now on the mend,
(10:13):
and he found his way back to the team, and
thank goodness he did. The performance he would put on
Friday night felt like the climax in the theater play
of the twenty twenty four Dodgers baseball season. Our beloved
national pastime at its very best, and I got to
see it. The box score for Game one says six
(10:39):
to three, but for a lot of this game. It
was way closer than that. The Yankees had their ace
on the mound, Garrett Cole, and he looked very, very good.
And you all know that my biggest fear going into
this series was our starting pitching. And I want to
give a shout out to Burbank's own, the Harvard Westlake
alum Erewan Smoothie make in Jack Flaherty, who ended up
(11:02):
going five and a third and giving up two runs,
but he really kept us in this game. It was
actually the Dodgers who drew first blood.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
My basketball spunge towards the right, fifth quarters, Sodokik.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Triple to right on a ball that Juan Soto misplayed,
and Will Smith got the job done, lifts it to
right field, Soto Zoe getting a sack fight to right
to score key k come Sernandez.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
There comes Sodo's throw bang back, but he's in safe.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
One zero Dodgers. But then the Yankees Big three, well,
actually the big two because Aaron Judge, the presumptive American
League MVP, he hasn't been hitting at all.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Judge is down swinging for the third time.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
It was Soto who singled to center to lead off
the sixth, and then John Carlos Stanton another la kid
Notre Dame High.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
School Golf's one way back there scraping the sky.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Give it the Yankee side hit a four hundred and
twelve foot moonshot into the left field pavilion and that's
what Chase Flaherty out of the game two to one
Yanks in the sixth, But then in.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
The eighth, right center field Soda on the lend of
the track gets up the top of the wall.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Show hey, he got his first World Series hit. Another
bad play by Sodo and show heyes. At third sooy
O Tani tech starred ninety massive feet and in the
next to bat Mooki drove him in with the sackfly
Bets finds up to center field. It's judge to pull
it in, but it's tied. It's hooky. Bets drives in
(12:34):
and show hey Tani tie. Game at two's a great game.
Neck and neck. Tit for tat And here's where it
gets interesting. Let's go to the top of the tenth inning.
Blake Trinan, one of our most ferocious dowgs, comes in
out of the bullpen to face Jazz Chisholm Junior, the
speedy Yankees third baseman, who reaches on a single there,
(12:59):
choosing to Will Smith. Trinan's got a slow movement out
of the stretch and Jazz Chisholm steals seconds and third and.
Speaker 7 (13:06):
Now stress on the infield they're gonna have to bring
him in.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Didn't stop.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Edmund can't get him out of his slave and the.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yankees sick trying to finishes the top of the tenth.
But now it's three two Yanks last up. The Dodger's
gotta get it done in the bottom of the tenth
or the game's over. To lead off the bottom of
the tenth, Will Smith flies out to right. Then Gavin
Lux works a walk and Tommy Edmund reaches on an
(13:35):
infield single on a ball Yankee second basement Glaber Torres
couldn't make a play on, which could have gone for two.
Edmunds on first, and Chris Taylor comes in to pinch
run for Lux at second. And guess what time it is.
That's right, it's showtime. Baby shohey Otani is announced as
(13:58):
the batter, and Yankees manager Aaron Boone calls to the
bullpen for left handed pitcher Nasty Nestor Cortes, who hadn't
pitched in a ballgame in thirty seven days. Let's dig
in on the nest decision because it will prove to
be pivotal.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
And ness had not pitched some September eighteenth.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Why did you like him in that tenth er?
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Just like the matchup?
Speaker 1 (14:24):
A reporter asked Boone about his decision in a postgame interview.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
The reality is he's been throwing the ball really well
the last few weeks, as he's gotten ready for this.
I knew with one out there would be tough to
double up show Hey. If Tim Hill gets him on
the ground and then move him behind him, his tough
match up there.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
So Boone says he liked the matchup. Lefty on lefty.
Generally speaking, that's a disadvantage to a left handed batter,
and over the course of his career, Shohey was just
two for twelve against nasty Nestor Cortes. When asked how
that fact into his decision, Boone said, a little bit.
(15:03):
Now on the flip side, Nestor hadn't pitched for over
a month. He was coming off an injury, and here
he is coming in with two men on and just
one out with the one run lead in the bottom
of the tenth inning with the winning run on base
in the World Series, to face the greatest baseball player
(15:24):
on planet Earth. The Yankees had another lefty in their bullpen.
His name is Tim Hill. The basic difference between Nestor
and Hill is that Nestor's more likely to get a strikeout.
With Hill, a hitter is more likely to make contact,
and as Boone said, show Hey, we'll be tough to
double up. He's fast, So he's bringing in Nestor to
(15:45):
go for the strikeout, but not just one strikeout. He
has to get two. And Major League Baseball has a
three batter minimum rule. Any pitcher must face at least
three batters before they can be taken out of a game,
the only exception being if the inning ends before they
do so. Boonie's bringing Nasty Nestor in to face show
(16:07):
Hey Otani and Mookie Betts and if either of them
gets on Freddie Freeman, the MB three, three of the
greatest hitters alive. Even a base hit could be a killer.
Runners on first and second, three two ballgame. Nasty Nestor
(16:27):
with his doe eyes and his pitch black mustache. The
one thing that I know about his backstory. He takes
the subway home from the ballpark after games at Yankee Stadium,
sho Hey Otani striding to the plate.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
I don't know if you ever love a matchup against Otani,
but you know, you know, I felt like, you know,
I felt like Nestor could give a certain.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Shot at show Hey stands in. Nestor gets the sign
and the pitch.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Says is lifted the left field. Verdugo runs over and
makes the grap Did he hold on?
Speaker 8 (17:06):
He did?
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Alex Verdugo makes the grab. He goes out of play
with the Ghidotani.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
On one pitch, on a foul ball that goes the
opposite way off the end of show Hayes bat, Yankees
left fielder Alex Verdugo makes a spectacular running catch, getting
clotheslined by the low wall in foul territory off of
left field and spilling over oursover into the stands. This
(17:37):
was a majorly deflating moment. On one pitch, Nasty Nester
had gotten sho Hey Otani to pop out and the
Dodgers were down to their final out just like that,
But because Alex Verdugo's momentum carried him over the wall
all the way into the seats and out of play.
(17:59):
A relatively obscure baseball rule Official Baseball rule five point
ZHO nine A one meant that the Dodger runners on
first and second were awarded an additional ninety feet, meaning
now there were runners on second and third, the potential
tying and go ahead runs in scoring position and Mooki
(18:21):
Bets coming to the plate.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Waved off Aaron Boone in the training stat and somewhat
fittingly here you know, with all the talk about show
hey o Tani, you now have Mooki Bets coming to
the plate the plate.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
And Yankees manager Aaron Boone makes his second pivotal decision
of the bottom of the tenth inning. With first base open,
Boonie holds up four fingers walking Mookie Bets himself an
MVP incredible hitter who happens to be oh for five
lifetime against nasty nester. But Boonie wanted to set up
(18:59):
the force out at any base and take his chances
lefty against lefty against fab five Freddie Well.
Speaker 7 (19:07):
The good news here for Dodgers is Freddie Freeman doesn't
necessarily have to do anything but get a single and
jogged a first, but beating something out of the ground
will be limited because of his ankle.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
If you've been following along with this show, you know
that Freddie is playing hurt. He rolled over his ankle
running out a ground ball to first base during the
Dodgers NL West clinching win at home in late September,
and so this entire postseason, Freddie has been playing through pain.
He even occasionally spends the night at the ballpark with
(19:48):
a member of the training staff to keep up with
the treatments he needs to do just to be able
to stay in the lineup, and he hasn't played in
every single game this postseason, even though Freddie is famous
for playing day in and day out in an age
where that is a rarity. But if you've been listening
to this show, you also know this season Freddie made
(20:10):
an exception for that habit when his three year old
son Maximus was stricken by a rare neurological condition called
Gillam bare sendra Freddy Freeman was scratched from the lineup.
Today he is headed back child who had just days
before been doing front flips, woke up one day with.
Speaker 9 (20:28):
A limp and by Monday night he couldn't walk anymore,
and we took him everywhere. A lot of people are
telling us and telling us it was transiit cinivitis.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Then he was paralyzed at one point from the neck down,
hospitalized on a ventilator, and so Freddie took some time
away from the team to be at his son's side.
Speaker 9 (20:52):
So speaking one of your kids.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Later fighting, Max's incredible recovery and Freddy's return to the
team was one of the most inspiring stories to come
out of the twenty twenty four baseball season. The entire
team started wearing t shirts that read Max Strong, and
(21:18):
it was also the subject of our episode, Freddie's Return.
It's been said that during the regular season, Freddy's ankle
injury would have placed him on the IL for four
to eight weeks, while a sprained ankle in no way
compares to the harrowing experience Freddy went through with his
son Max. Both of these are examples of the grit
(21:39):
Freddie Freeman plays with. Freddy could have quit baseball this year,
and he could easily be sitting out this postseason against
his own wishes. He's had to stay out of a
couple games, but with the World Series on the line,
Freddie has found a way to stay in the lineup.
He wants to help his team, and as a hobbled
(22:02):
Freddie Freeman strolled to the plate with the game on
the line in the bottom of the tenth inning of
the World Series Game one at Dodger Stadium, it was
impossible not to think of Game one of the nineteen
eighty eight World Series when another hobbled, left handed hitting
MVP came to the plate in the bottom of the
(22:25):
ninth in the same situation Mande's coming up. In nineteen
eighty eight, the last year that the Dodgers won a
World Series that was followed by a parade in the
streets of Los Angeles. The Dodgers faced the Oakland Athletics
in Game one at Dodger Stadium. Kurt Dibson, who was
(22:48):
the National League MVP that year, had hurt his leg
in the National League Championship Series against the Mets, the
same franchise that the Dodgers just beat to make it
to the World Series this year, and while he was
so badly hobbled that he didn't make the start that day,
Gibson made an appearance in the bottom of the ninth
inning with two outs as a pinch hitter against Ace
(23:10):
oakland A's reliever Dennis Eckersley, with Vince Scully on the.
Speaker 8 (23:14):
Call, with too bad leg, the bad left hand string,
and the swollen right knee, and with two out, do
you talk about a roll of the dice?
Speaker 1 (23:25):
This is it.
Speaker 8 (23:26):
Sack's waiting on deck for the game right now, is
at the bike.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
High fly ball in the right veil.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
She is gone.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
And he hit the most famous home run in Los
Angeles Dodgers' history, a walk off, game winning blast into
the right field pavilion that sent the stadium into a
frenzy as Gibson rounded the bases, pumping his fist, laboring
with a bad limp, and after Gibby's incredible home run,
the Dodgers went on to beat the heavily favored oakland
(24:03):
A's with the team that also included Fernando Valenzuela.
Speaker 8 (24:08):
In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Has happened, happened, And so now with all of that context,
you can see why for weeks I've been hesitantly suggesting
to friends that hey, with the Dodgers facing the Mets
again and the CS and a hobbled left handed hitter
playing through pain in the postseason, a team leader. Maybe
the stage is set for Freddie Freeman's Kirk Gibson moment.
(24:37):
I even said it on an episode of this show,
because it's pretty much a distillate of what a Dodger
blue dream means to me. I was six years old
in nineteen eighty eight, but I wasn't at Dodger Stadium,
and I wasn't yet following baseball. It was very shortly
(25:00):
thereafter that I fell so deeply in love with the
Dodgers and baseball. Just a little late to the party.
And the only time the Dodgers have won the World
Series since nineteen eighty eight was twenty twenty, and because
of COVID, the games weren't played at Dodger Stadium, and
La didn't get to celebrate with the parade.
Speaker 7 (25:20):
Something out in the ground will be limited because of
his ankle.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Now, the kind of at bat that every kid that
plays baseball dreams of one day happen, You'll tell yourself
right all right, bottom of the ten bases loaded World
Series one run game, Dodgers Yankees reality for Freddie Freeman.
Right here tailor the time run Edmund, the winning run
(25:49):
Cortez deliveries Freeman.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
It's about right, Fees goes.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
It felt like a tidal wave of ecstasy had crashed
into the stadium and swept us away. We're dancing, we're singing,
we're hugging strangers.
Speaker 6 (26:35):
I don't love bat flips, but this was such a
good bat flip.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
He knows it's gone. He raises his bat like the
Statue of Liberty and watches the home run ball disappear
into the right field pavilion, and then he just gently
releases his grip and the bat falls to the ground,
the first ever walk off Grand Slam in World Series history.
To think of what he's been through this year makes
(27:09):
it so much more meaningful that it was Freddie who
won the game for us. It makes you want to
persevere in the face of whatever your problems are and
to be a champion the way that man is. I
love Freddie Freeman, and you know he has it all.
Even a person like that will run into harrowing challenges
(27:31):
in his life, and it's about how you deal with them.
He went through all of that and found a way
to give himself a chance to blow our minds. The
way that he did that is inspiring. And Kurt Gibson
hit that home run at eight thirty seven pm, and
Freddie Freeman hit his home run at eight thirty seven pm. Obviously,
(27:55):
without trying to jinx anything, it just feels like this
is our year. I just feel fortunate that I was there,
and that vibe continued the next day with another great
game with a lot of the same themes. Freddie hit
another home run, he went back to back with Tao
and Tommy Edmund hit one out two a stellar outing
(28:16):
from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who gave up just one hit, a
solo home run to Juan Soto, and the Yankees had
just one hit into the eighth inning on Saturday night.
And it's not just that we're playing better defense. Nobody
has questioned a single move by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts,
and the vibes in the city are so high. Every
(28:36):
time I leave the house, I have multiple conversations about
the Dodgers with strangers, and the way this feels communal
in the ballpark and throughout the entire city is a
reminder that we all go through stuff, and we deserve
to feel good sometimes, So let's enjoy this, Los Angeles.
Don't be afraid to let yourself feel good when things
(28:59):
are going great. Dave Roberts top step wrapping a long
word for word with ice Cube to good day. Come on,
that's pure la. Damn right. It was a good day.
But of course now we're headed for a vibe shift.
(29:19):
Game three of the World Series kicks off tonight at
five eight, very specifically Pacific time, but it's not on
the best coast. It's in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium,
and we've got Walker Buehler going up against Clark Schmidt.
The Yankees lineup hasn't been doing a whole lot, and
we've shut Aaron Judge down completely, but now they got
(29:41):
the home field advantage, first time the World Series is
being played in the Bronx since two thousand and nine,
and they got the short porch out there. If the
Yankees lineup gets to Bueller, it's something to watch out for,
because the plan is to pitch a bullpen game for
Game four. And let me give you a tip, watch
out for the turtleneck Brent Honeywell Junior. If he's coming
(30:02):
in to eat innings. Hopefully he's able to give us
some length and save the Dowgs in the bullpen, the
high leverage guys, because if needed, we're staying in New
York for Game five, which would be played on Thursday.
A two zero lead sounds commanding, and of course the
odds are greatly in our favor in this best of
seven series. But if you know anything about postseason baseball,
(30:26):
you know the momentum can shift like that. Dodger Blue
Dream is written and produced by Me Richard Parks. The
third original music in this episode by William Ryan Fritch,
Jonathan Snipes the Blasting Company, and by Me. Production assistants
(30:48):
on this episode from Tyler Hill and Elizabeth Parks Kibbi.
Special thanks to Thomas Batty, Eli Horowitz, Caitlin Esh, Jordan Bass,
and Brian Hidalgo, whose voice you heard at the top
of the show, sounding as excited as we all felt
when Freddie hit that one out. If you like Dodger
(31:09):
Blue Dream, please check us out on Patreon. Go to
patreon dot com slash Dodger Blue Dream. We've got stickers,
we've got shirts, and we finally set up a way
for you to support this independent production. We'll be back
soon with more episodes. Thank you very much for listening.
(31:30):
Let's go Dodgers.
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