How many world series grand slams
There were some worrying moments during the regular season, but the Yankees are healthy and tearing the cover off the baseball. New York took a 1-0 series lead in the ALDS with a 9-3 victory over the Rays on Monday in San Diego, turning a one-run game into a laugher in the ninth thanks to Giancarlo Stanton's grand slam. It's the second straight game in which the Bombers have hit a grand slam, and the 14th time overall in franchise history, far and away the most by a team in the postseason.
The Yankees are heating up at the perfect time, having set Major League records with 11 home runs and 31 runs scored in three postseason games, highlighted by the two grand slams. Taking a look at all 14 postseason slams in the postseason, as you could imagine hitting one is a pretty good indicator of whether New York won or lost the game:
Giancarlo Stanton (2020 ALDS Game 1):
Up 4-3 heading into the top of the ninth, an Aaron Hicks RBI single gave New York some breathing room. After a Tyler Wade walk loaded the bases, Stanton all but ended it by turning on a breaking ball away and sending it 411 feet to center. After playing just 23 games in the regular season, Stanton has hit a
Game 1 of the World Series lived up to the hype of a Los Angeles Dodgers-New York Yankees Fall Classic, and Freddie Freeman was the hero.
The Dodgers first baseman hit a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning to cap off a dramatic game. The Yankees had taken the lead in the top of the 10th, 3-2, but Freeman came through with a 423-foot monster of a home run to give his team a 6-3 victory and a 1-0 lead in the World Series.
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It was the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history.
Freeman has been playing hobbled all postseason after spraining his ankle during the last week of the regular season. He didn't post a single extra-base hit in the NLDS or NLCS, and he sat out some games to rest the ankle, then hit a grand slam and a triple on Friday.
The play was highly reminiscent of Kirk Gibson's walk-off homer in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series against the Oakland A's. In both cases, a slugger hobbled by an injury delivered a homer to win the game. Gibson's still reverberates through Dodgers history, and this one will, too, if the Dodgers can get it done in the next few games.
There was plenty of drama before the grand slam as
MLB GRAND SLAM RECORDS
One of the rarest events in baseball is HITTING TWO GRAND SLAMS IN THE SAME GAME BY THE SAME PLAYER and they are all listed (along with box scores, positional breakdowns, and trivia items) in our fabulous feats section.
* Royce Lewis tied the major league record for grand slams in a
single season
by a rookie (four in 2023), as listed above, but he also hit one on May 13, 2022, his first year in the majors, giving him five total while in rookie status.
On May 26, 1929, New York Giants pinch-hitter Pat Crawford hit a grand slam. Les Bell, from the Boston Braves, pinch-hit and also hit a grand slam. This is the only time in history two pinch-hitters have each hit a grand slam during the same game.
Jim Northrup in 1968, and Larry Parrish in 1982, are the only players in Major League history to hit three grand slams during the same calendar week. However, did you know that Lou Gehrig once hit three grand slams over a four day period in 1931 (August 29, August 31 & September 1)? By comparison it took Northrup six days in 1968, and Parrish seven days in 1982.
Dodgers walk-off grand slam wins World Series opener
Freddie Freeman hit the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Yankees 6-3 in extra innings in game one at Dodger Stadium.
With the sides locked at 2-2 after nine innings, Great Britain international Jazz Chisholm Jr led a Yankees rally to give them a slender lead in the top of the 10th.
But with the Dodgers down to their last out, the Yankees' decision to intentionally walk the dangerous Mookie Betts, loading the bases for Freeman, backfired spectacularly.
The first game of the best-of-seven series began as a pitching duel as Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty and Yankees ace Gerrit Cole dominated.
The hosts broke the deadlock in the bottom of the fifth inning as Enrique Hernandez, only the second Dodger to get on base by that stage, raced home on a sacrifice fly by Will Smith.
The Yankees, in their first World Series since 2009, bounced straight back as Giancarlo Stanton hoisted Flaherty for a two-run homer.
Both sides squandered opportunities by stranding baserunners, but the Dodgers drew level after Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani hit a double to centre fi