The 2024 World Series featured an iconic matchup with the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees renewing their rivalry, and it came with an Apple TV+ documentary planned for release.
The three-part docuseries promised to provide never-before-seen footage while highlighting all of the most powerful moments from the World Series. Among them of course ended up being Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam in Game 1 at Dodger Stadium.
The project was produced in partnership with MLB and award-winning Imagine Documentaries, R.J. Cutler’s acclaimed This Machine, a part of Sony Pictures Television, and five-time World Series champion and executive producer Derek Jeter, alongside his production company, Cap 2 Productions.
“Our goal was to make a truly cinematic experience that celebrates the drama, emotion and beauty of baseball at its highest-stakes moment: the World Series,” Cutler said in a statement.
“We wanted to put the audience right in the guts of this story — the tension, the triumph, the heartbreak. As in life, the game of baseball is never over until the final out — you feel that in this series and your heart pounds with every twist and turn.”
Executive producer Ron Howard added: “As a lifelong baseball fan, I recognize the inherent drama in almost any MLB game, but with the Dodgers and Yankees in a World Series matchup and the remarkable director R.J. Cutler covering every aspect of the clash between these two great franchises, I knew it would yield a world-class documentary.”
DodgerBlue.com received an advanced screening of “Fight for Glory: 2024 World Series,” which had unprecedented access with Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and their families.
The 2024 World Series documentary takes fans through the Dodgers’ journey to toppling the Yankees in five games, largely behind Freeman’s heroics while playing through injury.
Apple TV+ “Fight for Glory: 2024 World Series” review
Premieres globally March 28 on Apple TV+.
Episode 1: “A Game for the Ages” (1 hour)
Apple’s World Series documentary fittingly begins with plenty of focus on the Freeman family, as cameras are with his wife, Chelsea, and their children.
The impact of Freeman’s sprained right ankle suffered during the final week of the regular season is often discussed, but not his rib injury that occurred the day before the Dodgers began their postseason run.
The injuries further added to Freeman’s lore when he hit the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history. The swing is going to forever live on, but so too will Yankees manager Aaron Boone deciding to use Nestor Cortes out of the bullpen to face Shohei Ohtani and Freeman.
Boone received plenty of criticism for his decision, though it was one that the film crew captured multiple Yankees coaches in the dugout strongly agreeing with and advocating for.
Various calls from Dodgers broadcaster Stephen Nelson are featured throughout the opening episode, which includes Ohtani expressing a sense of belonging by playing in the World Series, and Dave Roberts discussing the pressure he and Boone share as managers of high-profile franchises.
Following the excitement of Freeman’s grand slam, Chelsea relayed a conversation she had and being asked how they would manage six more days of the Game 1 environment.
“We’re not gonna do this for six more days,” Freddie responded.
Episode 2: “Pressure Is a Privilege” (53 minutes)
Betts’ wife and mother are featured in the second episode, and they offer a glimpse back at his childhood days. Betts’ mom in particular recalls when her son was not welcomed onto a youth baseball team because of his small stature.
She decided to coach a team herself so that Betts could play, and he took on a teaching role that still prevails to this day.
Much of the focus with Episode 2 then shifts to Ohtani suffering a subluxation of his left shoulder on a stolen base attempt in Game 2.
The Dodgers at the time didn’t reveal the full nature of Ohtani’s shoulder injury, which included a torn labrum that required offseason surgery.
Episode 3: “Sleeping Giants” (1 hour and 6 minutes)
The final episode of “Fight for Glory: 2024 World Series” begins with Game 4, and Freeman and Roberts being confident when Dodgers went up 2-0 in first inning.
That came courtesy of Freeman hitting a home run in his sixth World Series game in a row, an MLB record. The tables did turn on the Dodgers, however, and with that is exclusive audio of Roberts voicing concern over Aaron Judge beginning to emerge from a postseason slump.
That carries into Game 5 as the episode continues, and Judge’s home run off Jack Flaherty being among the Yankees highlights.
Roughly half of the episode then goes to the Dodgers’ improbable comeback that culminated with the eighth World Series title in franchise history.
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