Freddie Freeman authored a World Series MVP performance for the ages, and not just because the Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman dealt with a badly sprained ankle throughout the team’s playoff run.

Freeman also suffered broken cartilage in his rib just before the Dodgers began their postseason in the National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres, ESPN and The Washington Post reported.

The 35-year-old Freeman was diagnosed with the injury on the night of Oct. 4, one day before the start of the NLDS, per ESPN. Yet Freeman remained on the Dodgers’ roster while also dealing with the aforementioned ankle injury, plus a broken finger suffered in August that had not fully healed. He was in the lineup for that game, and still contributed through the first two rounds of the playoffs. This despite noticeable pain that required him to sit three different times during the Dodgers’ NLDS win over the Padres and NLCS win over the New York Mets.

The four days of rest between the Dodgers’ clinching Game 6 of the NLCS and Game 1 of the 2024 World Series helped Freeman make a noticeable improvement, and not only physically. He also tweaked his swing to recover his power stroke. Still, the type of rib injury Freeman was dealing with usually sidelines players for months, ESPN reported.

[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series] 

Instead, roughly three weeks after being diagnosed with that broken rib cartilage, Freeman hit the first and only walk-off grand slam in World Series history:

And Freeman added on from there, hitting home runs in each of the Dodgers’ next three games to solidify his World Series MVP case. Freeman also broke the record for most consecutive World Series games with a home run (six, dating back to the end of the 2021 World Series he won with the Atlanta Braves) and tied the record for most RBIs in a single World Series (12).

Check out Freeman’s full World Series MVP trophy ceremony and sit-down interview with the “MLB on FOX” postgame crew below:

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