No player embodied the resilient spirit of the 2024 Los Angeles Dodgers better than World Series MVP Freddie Freeman, whose health was in question throughout the postseason due to a sprained right ankle.
Behind the scenes there appeared to be even more going on.
According to ESPN’s Jeff PassanFreeman also played the postseason in secret with broken rib cartilage, an injury that could sideline or at least significantly limit players for months. Despite this, Freeman worked his way into both the World Series MVP award and the history books, achieving an MLB record of six consecutive Fall Classic games with a home run.
Freeman also made history with the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history in Game 1 and with 12 RBI over the series, tying a World Series record held by Bobby Richardson of the New York Yankees, who reached that mark in seven games. Freeman did it in five games, in a series in which his team scored a total of 25 points. So he was personally responsible for almost half of his team’s attacking output in those five games.
The list of things Freeman has had to overcome over the past three months includes rib cartilage, the sprained ankle he suffered in the penultimate series of the regular season, a broken finger that he wanted to play throughAnd the hospitalization of his son Max, who was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome.
The Dodgers first baseman was already being beaten up physically and emotionally when he reportedly felt a jolt go through his body during a swing during a live batting practice the day before the Dodgers were set to open the NLDS against the San Diego Padres.
Apparently he couldn’t even lift himself off the floor and had to be helped to the X-ray room. Further imaging at a medical facility revealed that he had fractured the costal cartilage in his sixth rib. His pain was so severe that his father Fred told Passan he urged his son to stop playing.
His son refused to do so, via ESPN:
“I actually told him to stop,” Fred said. “I said, ‘Freddie, this isn’t worth it. I know you love baseball. I love baseball. But it’s not worth what you’re going through.’ And he looked at me like I was crazy, and he said, ‘Daddy, I’ll never stop.’”
Luckily, Freeman had a game plan:
“It only hurts when I miss,” Freeman told his father. “So I just have to stop missing.”
Unfortunately, Freeman actually missed more than a few throws. In the NLDS and NLCS, he went 7-for-32 with six strikeouts and no extra-base hits and also missed three games, ostensibly to rest his ankle. Unbeknownst to the Padres, New York Mets and everyone else, his ribs were the biggest problem.
Freddie Freeman was the Dodgers’ offense in the 2024 World Series. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
The Dodgers actually had a lucky break by allowing the Mets to force a Game 6 in the NLCS. If they had won Game 5, Game 1 of the World Series would have been moved to October 22. It was reportedly on that day that Freeman underwent his treatment routine and started feeling better.
On October 24, the day before the actual Game 1, Freeman reportedly made a swing adjustment by telling himself to walk more towards first base, without actually doing so, so that he would be less hunched over when he swung.
It clearly worked, and the result will be on Dodgers highlights for the next century.