Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman capped an iconic, historic run to his second World Series championship by hoisting the Willie Mays Most Valuable Player Award after the Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Freeman hit a home run in each of the first four games of the series, including the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history, en route to becoming the first player to homer in six straight Fall Classic games. (His previous two home runs in the streak came in Games 5 and 6 of the 2021 World Series when he played for the Atlanta Braves.) His 12 RBIs tied Bobby Richardson’s 1960 record for the most in one World Series. Freeman needed only five games to match the feat Richardson achieved over seven games.
And Freeman did all of it on a severely injured ankle.
.300 AVG
4 HR
12 RBIFreddie Freeman is your #WorldSeries MVP! pic.twitter.com/7APcdvH544
— MLB (@MLB) October 31, 2024
The 35-year-old closed out his October with a .300/.364/.1.000 slash line in the World Series, having gone 6-for-20, including the four homers. He struck out only once, and his lone hit in Game 5, a two-run single, helped the Dodgers storm back from a 5-0 deficit against the Yankees.
“This is what you set out to do every spring training. Show up in February, it’s a grind. It’s eight months, eight grinding months. This is the ultimate,” Freeman said on the broadcast. “It’s the hardest thing to do, to win a championship in this game. Wow, this is incredible.”
Required reading
- Dodgers beat Yankees to win second World Series of franchise’s new ‘golden era’
- How Freddie Freeman delivered an iconic swing on a bad ankle: ‘You dream about those moments’
- Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman becomes first MLB player to homer in 6 straight World Series games
(Photo of Freddie Freeman with his World Series MVP trophy: Elsa / Getty Images)
