Freeman has World Series moment by winning grand slam for Los Angeles Dodgers

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Freddie Freeman picked up his youngest son and hugged him tight, planting kisses on 3-year-old Maximus’ blonde head. The slugger’s wife, Chelsea, gathered their two other children for a family photo on the field at Dodger Stadium, where dad had just created an indelible moment in baseball history.

Three months earlier, Freddie and Chelsea were at Max’s hospital bedside as he fought for his life after suffering from Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Max survived and thrived, and was able to care for his father. make history in the World Series Friday night for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Freeman is still recovering from a severely sprained right ankle, but had no trouble rounding the bases after hitting his grand slam in the 10th inning to win Game 1 of the World Series over the Yankees. After celebrating with his teammates, he seemed even more agile as he ran and jumped onto the screen behind home plate to joyfully celebrate with his father.

“It felt like nothing, just like floating,” said a beaming Freeman.

“That’s the kind of thing, when you’re 5 years old with your two older brothers and you’re playing wiffle ball in the backyard, those are the scenarios you dream about: two outs, bases loaded in a World Series game,” He added. “For it to actually happen and we hit a home run and give ourselves a 1-0 lead, that’s the best thing ever.”

After everything the eight-time All-Star has endured since mid-summer, it’s clear that nothing will stop Freeman from giving everything he has this year, both for his sport and his family.

“He’s doing something basically heroic to put himself in position to play,” Dodgers postseason hero Kiké Hernández said. “Freddie is a grinder. There aren’t many superstars who work like Freddie does. “He is a Hall of Famer and this is a special moment in his career.”

Freeman missed eight games for the Dodgers in July and August after Max became ill while watching his father at the All-Star festivities in Texas.

When the family returned home, Max was hospitalized and put on a ventilator after experiencing partial paralysis and difficulty breathing. He was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré, a rare neurological disease that affects the immune system, nerves and muscles.

Max’s condition gradually improved and Freeman returned to work on August 5. He did not hide his tears before or after receiving a standing ovation from Dodger fans who understood the depth of his anguish.

Freeman then broke his right middle finger less than two weeks after returning, and collapsed while trying to play through the injury before manager Dave Roberts convinced him to sit out a series in late August to reset his body.

Max Freeman returned to Chavez Ravine in September to watch the Dodgers down the stretch. The young man is expected to make a full recovery, Freeman said.

Through it all, Freeman produced another breakout season at first base and at the plate, batting .282 with an .854 OPS, 22 home runs, 89 RBI and 4.7 WAR.

But Freeman seriously injured his ankle on September 26 in the Dodgers’ final regular-season home game. The Dodgers acknowledged that the severity of the sprain would have kept most players out for several weeks during the regular season, but Freeman is determined to get it out of the way if possible, because it’s October.

He has missed three postseason games, including two of the last three against the Mets in the National League Championship Series. The Dodgers won anywayreaching the World Series for the first time in Freeman’s three years in his native Southern California.

“There’s been a lot of times where we’ve had to go to Freddie and say, ‘Hey, you’ve got to stay out of this,’” slugger Max Muncy said. “’We’ve got you tonight. You need to rest.’ If you know Freddie, it’s a difficult conversation to have. But he knows what is best for the team and now he feels like himself enough to do what he did tonight.”

After nearly a week of rest and treatment, Freeman said his ankle “really felt pretty good” heading into Game 1 against the Yankees.

He showed it in the first inning when he hit a triple, his first since June 1, with the help of Juan Soto, who misplayed his drive down the right field line.

Freeman is only the third player in baseball history to hit a grand slam and a triple in a postseason game. Kaz Matsui, who did it in the 2007 NLDS, is the only other player to accomplish the feat since 1920.

In the sixth inning, Freeman watched in awe, arms crossed, as Giancarlo Stanton’s mammoth home run sailed deep into the left-field stands for New York.

But 36 years after another veteran Dodgers slugger hit a home run that ended Game 1 of the World Series and limped around the bases in a Chavez Ravine frenzy, Freeman took the same limping trot into the deafening noise of the World Series celebrations. October.

Kirk Gibson created one of the most iconic moments in Dodger history in 1988. Freeman’s explosion was eerily similar, even landing in roughly the same part of the Dodger Stadium stands, complete with brake lights from fans leaving early visible in the parking lots beyond.

Muncy hit his own game-ending World Series home run in the 18th inning of the Dodgers’ victory over the Boston Red Sox in 2018, although it was Los Angeles’ only victory in the series.

“When I hit mine, you passed out right then,” Muncy said. “With this one I could see the reactions. Feel the ground shake. “I was standing next to Dave, but as soon as (Freeman) hit him, I just swung my bat.”

Freeman’s home run will be immortalized in Cooperstown: He agreed to donate his cleats to the Baseball Hall of Fame, but only after the World Series is over.

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