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Freddie Freeman’s home run gives strength to Dodgers

Harry October 31, 2024

NEW YORK – Freddie Freeman clutched his World Series MVP trophy and held it up after the game. Los Angeles Dodgers‘ Championship Wednesday night, he let his emotions leak out, knowing how much this meant to him.

Freeman led the Dodgers somewhere five game conquestHe hit a home run in each of the first four games and drove in a World Series franchise-record 12 runs.

“It’s everything,” Freeman said.

Few people outside of his own family even remotely experience the disappointments, anxieties and fears he endured throughout the season, culminating in baseball’s greatest prize.

“I don’t think you really have any idea what he went through himself to be able to play for this,” Dodgers reliever infielder Enrique Hernandez said.Superhero (things).

“I don’t think Freddie will ever pay for a meal in Los Angeles again.”

Freeman, who suffered a severe right ankle sprain on Sept. 26, didn’t even know he would be healthy enough to play in the postseason and missed three games in the first two rounds. He didn’t even know if he would play again when he took leave for eight days in late July to be with his son Maximus, who was in the pediatric intensive care unit battling a rare neurological disease. disorder.

He was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a condition in which the body’s immune system attacks nerves, causing weakness, numbness and paralysis. He had no feeling below his neck and was on a ventilator to strengthen his lungs.

“He didn’t deserve this,” Freeman said when he returned in August. “Nobody who goes through this deserves this. It’s not just my family. We went every night and every room (of the pediatric intensive care unit) was full. And it’s heartbreaking. So many families go through things like this. It’s what made Guillain-Barré make a full recovery.” We are one of the lucky ones. There are kids struggling to survive right now. It puts everything in perspective.

“I know Dodger fans don’t like this, but I’d rather happily bat 300 million times in a row with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 7 of the World Series than see this again.”

Not only is Maximus walking again and on the road to recovery, but Freddie Freeman also had an absolutely no-hitter with the bases loaded in the ninth inning of Game 7.

Not only did he hit a home run in each of four games, but he also broke the Major League record by pitching in six consecutive World Series games until 2021, when he won the World Series with Atlanta.

Playing on an injured ankle that required nearly five hours of treatment to play and unable to produce an extra-base hit in the first two postseason rounds, Freeman put on one of the best shows of power in World Series history.

he shot First walk-off grand slam in World Series history A solo homer in Game 1, Game 2 Two-run homer in Game 3and another two-run home run in Game 4.

“It’s not just because of what he did (in the World Series), but because of what he did last month to put himself in a position to come out and put on the cleats.”

The biggest break, according to Freeman, was that losing Game 5 of the NLCS to the New York Mets forced the World Series to start three days later, giving Freeman four full days to recover.

“I really needed this,” Freeman said. “That was huge for me.”

And a difference-maker for the Dodgers in the World Series.

“He gave us everything,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said, “he literally gave us his body. What Freddie did is incredible.”

“This guy does it with one foot, breaks bones everywhere, and still puts his body on the line every day,” says Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux. … After everything he’s been through this year, it’s been really fun to watch what he’s done.

“He is the best competitor. That’s just Freddie Freeman.”

He has long been one of the best players in the game with a stellar resume: eight-time All-Star, three-time Silver Slugger, Gold Glove winner, eight-time top-10 MVP and 2020 MVP.

But as great a player as he was on the field, the Dodgers will say he was an even better person and one of the greatest clubhouse leaders in football.

“He’s one of those guys who is just really amazing to be around, to sit down and talk to,” Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty said. “Even if it’s not baseball, everything that’s going on. He’s a good guy. … He’s one of those guys and one of those guys that really loves this game, really enjoys it and shows up every day.”

Freeman, 35, shrugs. This is his DNA. He has averaged 160 games per year in the last six years of the season. Freeman thinks you should play if you’re not on the injured list.

“The last few months have been very tough,” Freeman said, “but my job is to play baseball. That’s the way I was raised. That’s my job. You do it every day, no matter the circumstances.”

That’s what World Series MVP winners do.