Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman was a well-deserved World Series MVP after hitting four home runs and delivering some of the biggest hits in the Dodgers’ five-game series win.
There was some concern about his health going into the series due to an ankle injury, and it turns out that might have even been the worst of the injuries he was dealing with.
Freeman was also playing through broken rib cartilage that he suffered while taking some swings in the batting cage earlier in October.
More on that injury, from ESPN’s Jeff Passan:
Unable to even pick himself off the floor, Freeman was helped into the X-ray room next to Los Angeles’ dugout. The results were inconclusive, and around 9:30 p.m., he received a call. The Dodgers wanted him to drive to Santa Monica for more imaging. He hopped in the car, then in an MRI tube. Around 11:30 p.m., the results arrived: Freeman had broken the costal cartilage in his sixth rib, an injury that typically sidelines players for months.
Passan went on to write that Freeman’s father urged him to stop playing this postseason due to what he was going through with the rib and ankle injuries. Freeman, obviously, refused to give in and kept going.
He ended up putting together one of the most impressive World Series performances of all time, homering in four consecutive games, including the first ever walk-off grand slam in World Series history. He also delivered a huge two-out, two-run single in the top of the fifth inning in the Dodgers’ wild Game 5 comeback.
The injuries are just part of what makes the Dodgers’ win so impressive.
Their pitching staff had been decimated by injuries all season, and they were basically down to just three starters for the World Series. Add in the dislocated shoulder injury for Shohei Ohtani, as well as everything Freeman was playing through, and it is as gritty of a win as you can possibly imagine.
