A crack of the bat and the crowd goes wild. It is the 10th inning of the first matchup against the Yankees in the 2024 World Series for the Dodgers. The Dodgers are down 2-3 with the bases loaded and two outs. Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes throws a 92 MPH inside fastball to Dodgers 1st Baseman Freddie Freeman who was still recovering from a sprained ankle. As the ball reached the plate the crowd was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Then all of a sudden BOOM a crack of a bat and Freeman hits a walk off grand slam straight center field to win game one of the 2024 World Series.
“ I thought it was pretty exciting, especially since I didn’t want the Yankees to win and Freddie Freeman is a really good guy. It seems like he’s gone through a lot this season with his kids, and he’s generally a good guy,” gym teacher Mr. Paulson said.
Games 2 and 3 were also very good games for the Dodgers with them putting the Yankees down in the series 3-0. Game 4 however was very eventful as the Dodgers challenged the Yankees in the Yankees own Yankee stadium. During the bottom of the 1st inning Dodgers player Mookie Betts ran to the right field line in an attempt to catch a foul ball which was successful and was then held on to by two Yankee fans who tore Betts’ glove open and took the ball. The Yankees organization then confirmed that the two fans were banned from the World Series and the two tickets were given to a 15 year old fan with cancer for game 5. Game 4 ended with the Yankees taking a 11-4 victory over the Dodgers to bring the series to 3-1 with the Dodgers still in the lead.
“I think the MLB and Yankees organization stepping in and making sure they got banned was the right thing to do, because if anything, that professional athlete did not deserve to be touched the way he did,” social studies teacher Mr. Nikolopoulos said.
The pressure was on for both teams for game 5 as the Dodgers had the chance to win it all. The first innings were looking very promising for the Yankees when the Dodgers would come back to tie the game and from then it was pretty back and forth through the 8th inning. It would all come down to the 9th inning when the Dodgers would score nothing. The first 2 batters were called out for the Yankees and it would come down to the last batter. He was down 2 strikes and all the pitcher would have to do is throw 1 more strike. With the pitch….. Swing… AND A MISS. The Dodgers would win the World Series thanks to pitcher Walker Buehler who clinched the World Series for the Dodgers!
In a survey it was found that it was a 50/50 split of who students were expecting to win the world series. Out of the people surveyed 87.5% were not surprised about the outcome and 12.5% were. One student stated their reason for not being surprised was that the Dodgers are usually not the greatest while the Yankees are usually pretty good. While surprising to some and not so much to others, this year’s rendition of the World Series is definitely one that will go down in history.
