NEW YORK — As Freddie Freeman held the World Series trophy high, he knew what it meant to his team. It was a championship that started with a walk-off home run, then continued through a series of rallies and finished off by a pair of defensive gems. It was a championship that, at one point, had the Yankees chasing it.
The game was tied at 1-1 in the ninth inning, and the Dodgers were in danger of blowing a five-run lead with one more bad inning. So, the Dodgers summoned their last-minute relief chips. Right-hander Brusdar Graterol got through the top of the Yankee order, but then Giancarlo Stanton struck again. His 412-foot, two-run, game-tying sacrifice fly stood up to a review and restored the Yankees’ slim, 3-2 lead.
The World Series is a postseason play-off series between the champions of Major League Baseball’s American League (AL) and National League (NL). The first World Series was played in 1903, following the cessation of hostilities between the NL and AL, and was originally a best-of-nine series until 1905 when it became a seven-game format. The Series has been played annually since 1905, except for 1994 when a players’ strike canceled it. It has produced some of baseball’s most legendary moments.