Dodgers, in the lead-up to the World Series title

Freddie Freeman is only the second player in Major League history to hit multiple home runs and a triple in the first games of a World Series. The iconic Babe Ruth, a Yankees legend, had achieved that feat in 1923. It is not the first time that the Californian has watched in amazement as a gigantic baseball park rises to the deafening roar of his bat. In the first inning yesterday at Yankee Stadium, Freeman opened the third chapter for the championship with another collectible hit, sending the ball to a height of 355 feet (more than 108 meters) over right field to set the course for victory 4-2 against the New York ninth.

The Angelenos now have a 3-0 lead, despite the fact that Mexican Álex Verdugo brought the Yankees closer with a two-run home run in the ninth.

Freeman, eight times All-Star of the league, took the same confident and dominant trot when connecting with the throw of Clarke Schmidt, who, as soon as he visualized the direction of the ball, slapped his glove and looked down in resignation. The home run put two lines on the board, with Japan’s Shohei Ohtani included, before Gavin Lux and Tommy Edman took care of the rest. It was the fifth consecutive game in which the Dodgers’ star hitter, who tied George Springer’s record, hit a home run in the World Series.

Ohtani, two days after suffering a partial dislocation of his left shoulder, walked four straight to open the game. After Mookie Betts was retired with a fly ball, Freeman disappeared a high cut fastball on a 1-2 count, depositing the ball in the fifth row of the first level of the right field stands. He thus became the third player to hit a home run in the first three games of a World Series. The others were Hank Bauer in 1958 and Barry Bonds in 2002.

The 35-year-old first baseman has seven RBIs in this Fall Classic. With the Atlanta Braves, in the 2021 finals, he hit a hard time in the last two games against Houston. Not satisfied with that, he stepped on all three bases again with two home runs in the first three of the current edition. Only a sprained right ankle, which he suffered on September 26 against San Diego, stopped him from missing the end of the regular season.

But Freeman returned in a big way. His grand slam in the tenth inning of the first game on Friday gave the Dodgers a 6-3 victory. It was his first home run since September 16. After that, there was nothing stopping him.

On the mound, right-hander Walker Buehler shut down New York’s guns in five complete innings. Only Giancarlo Stanton, known for his prodigious talent with the wooden stick, hit two hits that were about to bring the Yankees closer in the first five rolls. Anthony Rizzo and Anthony Volpe added efforts for the locals, but even the replacements of Brusdar Graterol, Alex Vesia, Daniel Hudson and Michael Kopech maintained control of the game in a venue that could only wake up with Verdugo’s bomb.