No player embodied the resilient spirit of the 2024 Los Angeles Dodgers more than World Series MVP Freddie Freeman, whose health was in question throughout the postseason due to a sprained right ankle.
Turns out there was even more going on behind the scenes.
According to ESPN’s Jeff PassanFreeman was also secretly playing the playoffs with a fractured rib cartilage, an injury that can sideline players for months or at least limit them significantly. Despite this, Freeman fought his way to both World Series MVP award and history books, reach an MLB record six consecutive Fall Classic games with a home run.
Freeman also made history with the first grand slam in World Series history in Game 1 and with 12 RBIs in the Series, tying a World Series record held by Bobby Richardson of the New York Yankees, who posted 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 offensive production over 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 chose to play withAnd the hospitalization of his son Max, who has been diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome.
The Dodgers first baseman was already battered physically and emotionally when he reportedly felt a jolt pass through his body during a swing during a live batting practice session the day before the scheduled NLDS opener Dodgers against the San Diego Padres.
Apparently he couldn’t even get up from the floor and needed to be helped to the x-ray room. Further imaging at a medical facility revealed that he had broken 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, it’s not 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, ‘Dad, I’ll never stop.'”
Fortunately, Freeman had a game plan:
“It only hurts when I miss,” Freeman told his father. “So I’m going to have to stop missing.”
Unfortunately, Freeman missed several shots. In the NLDS and NLCS, he went 7-for-32 with six strikeouts and no extra-base hits and also missed three games, supposedly to rest his ankle. Unbeknownst to the Padres, New York Mets and everyone else, his ribs were the biggest problem.
The Dodgers actually had a lucky break in allowing the Mets to force a Game 6 in the NLCS. Had they won in Game 5, Game 1 of the World Series would have been moved up to October 22. It was apparently that day that Freeman went through his treatment routine and started feeling better.
On October 24, the day before the first game, Freeman allegedly made a swing adjustment by telling himself to move more toward first base, without actually doing it, so that he would lean less during his swing.
Clearly, it worked and the outcome will be played on Dodgers highlights for the next century.
