No player embodied the resilient spirit of the 2024 Los Angeles Dodgers as much as World Series MVP Freddie Freeman, whose health was in question throughout the postseason due to a sprained ankle.
It turns out there was even more going on behind the scenes.
According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, Freeman also played in the postseason with broken rib cartilage, an injury that can sideline players for months, or at least significantly limit them. Despite that, Freeman slugged his way to both the World Series MVP award and the history books, reaching an MLB-record six straight Fall Classic games with a homer.
Freeman also made history with the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history in Game 1 and with 12 RBI across the series, tying a World Series record held by the New York Yankees' Bobby Richardson, 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 runs. So he was personally responsible for nearly half of his team's offensive output in those five games.
The list of things Freeman has had to overcome in the past three months includes that rib cartilage, the sprained ankle he sustained in the penultimate series of the regular season, a fractured finger he opted to play through and the hospitalization of his son Max, who was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome.
The Dodgers first baseman was already beat up physically and emotionally when he reportedly felt a jolt go through his body on a swing during a live batting practice session the day before the Dodgers were scheduled to open the NLDS against the San Diego Padres.
Apparently, he couldn't even pick himself off the floor and needed to be helped to the X-ray room. Further imaging at a medical facility found he had broken the costal cartilage in his sixth rib. His pain was so bad his father Fred told Passan he urged his son to stop playing.
His son declined to do so, via ESPN:
"I actually told him to stop," Fred said. "I said, 'Freddie, this is 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'm never going to stop.'"
Fortunately, Freeman had a game plan:
"It only hurts when I miss," Freeman told his father. "So I'm just going to have to stop missing."
Unfortunately, Freeman did actually miss more than a few pitches. In the NLDS and NLCS, he went 7-for-32 with six strikeouts and no extra-base hits and also three games, supposedly to rest his ankle. Unbeknownst to the Padres, New York Mets and everyone else, his ribs were the bigger problem.
The Dodgers actually caught a fortunate break by 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 Oct. 22. It was reportedly on that day Freeman went through his treatment routine and started feeling better.
On Oct. 24, the day before the actual Game 1, Freeman reportedly made a swing adjustment by telling himself to stride more toward first base, without actually doing so, so he would be less hunched over as he swung.
Clearly, it worked.