Every postseason walk-off grand slam
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A walk-off home run is one of the most exciting plays that can happen on a baseball field. What about a walk-off grand slam ... in the postseason?
Those events are incredibly rare, as there have only been two walk-off grand slams in MLB's long postseason history. That does not include Robin Ventura's iconic would-be walk-off grand slam in Game 5 of the 1999 NLCS, which officially went down as a single.
When Freddie Freeman hit his walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series against the Yankees, he became just the second player with a walk-off postseason slam.
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Freddie Freeman (LAD), 2024 World Series Game 1 vs. NYY
The parallels between Freeman in 2024 and Kirk Gibson in the 1988 Fall Classic are uncanny. Freeman, hobbled by a badly sprained right ankle he suffered in the final week of the regular season, had not been himself up to this point but admirably played in most of the Dodgers games. Accordingly, the Yankees intentionally walked Mookie Betts in the 10th inning to load the bases for Freeman, who proceeded to launch one of the most memorable home runs in baseball history over the right-field wall at Dodger Stadium to give Los Angeles a 6-3 victory.
"She is gone," proclaimed FOX Sports and Dodgers main play-by-play broadcaster Joe Davis. "Gibby, meet Freddie!"
Freeman's walk-off slam was just the second in postseason history and the first in a World Series. It was also just the third walk-off home run in a World Series game when a team was trailing, along with Gibson in '88 and Joe Carter in Game 6 of the '93 Fall Classic.
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Nelson Cruz (TEX), 2011 ALCS Game 2 vs. DET
When Cruz crushed his walk-off slam in the 11th inning to secure a 7-3 win over the Tigers in 2011, he became the first player in postseason history to pull off this feat (that is, unless you truly count Ventura's single as a walk-off grand slam). What made this grand slam even more incredible was it wasn't even Cruz's first big home run of the game. Four innings earlier, Cruz hit a game-tying solo home run that helped send the game to extras, where he proceeded with his even more prominent homer.