Dodgers’ first baseman, Freddie Freeman, made history on Wednesday when he became the first Canadian national team player to win World Series MVP. The superstar became the first player in World Series history to homer in each of the first four games of the World Series and tied a Fall Classic record with 12 RBI.
Born in Oakland County, California, Freeman holds dual Canadian-America citizenship, with his father being born in Windsor, Ontario. He represented Canada in the World Baseball Classic in 2017 and 2023, collecting two hits in each tournament.
The World Series MVP caps a historic five-year run for Freeman. He captured the league MVP in the shortened 2020 season, then led the Atlanta Braves to the 2021 World Series title by hitting .304/.420/.625 with five homers in 16 postseason games. Fittingly, the 11-year Brave secured the final out when Yuli Gurriel grounded out to Austin Riley.
THE FINAL OUT! 🔥
Congrats to the World Series Champion @Braves! pic.twitter.com/4NeUl7YV3b
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) November 3, 2021
Despite Freeman’s consistency and status within the organization, the Braves chose to acquire Matt Olson from the Oakland Athletics after the 2021 season. This led Freeman to sign a six-year/$162 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, joining a fearsome lineup that already included Mookie Betts, Trea Turner, Will Smith, and Max Muncy. Though the Dodgers came up short in the NLDS in each of his first two seasons, Freeman remained one of the best pure hitters in baseball, as he posted a .328/.408/.540 slash line while playing 320 of 324 possible games.
The 2024 season saw Freeman encounter the most adversity of his career. The 34-year-old saw his average dip to .282, while his .854 OPS was the worst since 2015. He also missed time during the regular season after his son Maximus was diagnosed with Guillian-Barre syndrome, and he suffered a severe ankle sprain on September 26 that hampered him into the postseason.
Despite Freeman’s down year, the Dodgers went into the playoffs after the number one seed and took down the Padres and Mets to advance to the Fall Classic. Freeman batted just .219 without a home run in the first two rounds, but the World Series would be another story. He proved his ankle was feeling better by legging out a first-inning triple in Game One before invoking memories of Kirk Gibson with a 10th-inning grand slam that gave the Dodgers a 1-0 series lead.
FREDDIE FREEMAN WALKS OFF GAME 1 OF THE #WORLDSERIES WITH A GRAND SLAM! 😳😱
(📼 @MLB) pic.twitter.com/bKISpJEs3C
— The Ringer (@ringer) October 26, 2024
Freeman would hit another home run in Game 2 as part of the Dodgers onslaught against Yankees starter Carlos Rodon, then hit a pair of first-inning two-run blasts in Games 3 and 4 at Yankee Stadium. Going back to the 2021 World Series, Freeman became the first player in World Series history to homer in six consecutive games, breaking George Springer’s record of five.
Freddie Freeman becomes the first player in MLB history to homer in six straight #WorldSeries games!
Joe Davis on the Game 4 call for Fox. ⚾️🎙️ #MLB pic.twitter.com/ig8feAjSHJ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 30, 2024
Though his homer streak would come to an end in Game 5, Freeman would have his fingerprints all over the series-clinching victory. His two-out, two-run single off Gerrit Cole in the fifth inning closed the deficit to two and set the stage for Teoscar Hernandez’s game tying-double one batter later. When Walker Buehler fanned Alex Verdugo to clinch the Dodger’s first full-season title since 1988, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Freeman was going to walk home with the Willie Mays World Series MVP trophy.
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