Four-Homers Freddie Freeman Puts His Name in the Record Books, Again

NEW YORK — When Freddie Freeman sprained his right ankle on September 26, the Dodgers had good reason to fear that his injury would be season-ending. Few could have envisioned that Freeman — who somehow managed to return from a six-week injury in a week, and to hobble through the National League Division Series and Championship Series — could play up to his usual high standard, let alone repeatedly etch his name in the record books. In Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday night, the 35-year-old first baseman did so while providing a sense of déjà vu all over again. With his second two-run first-inning homer into Yankee Stadium’s short porch in as many nights, he put the Dodgers in a position to clinch a championship, though unlike Monday, they weren’t able to hold the Yankees down for nine innings, and lost 11-4.

Freeman’s fourth home run of this World Series came against Luis Gil and followed a one-out Mookie Betts double down the right field line. After Gil fell behind in the count 2-1, he put a belt-high slider on the outer edge of the plate. Freeman connected, launching a low, arcing drive 106.6 mph into the seats and temporarily sucking all the oxygen out of the Yankee Stadium fans as they faced the possibility of a sweep.

With that, Freeman had homers in all four games of this World Series, starting with a walk-off grand slam off Nestor Cortes in Game 1 — the first such hit in World Series history — then a third-inning solo homer off Carlos Rodón in Game 2, and Monday’s two-run dinger off Clarke Schmidt in Game 3, answering the F-bombs of Yankee Stadium’s notorious Bleacher Creatures. His streak of homering in four straight games tied the Astros’ George Springer for a record set in Games 4–7 of the 2017 World Series against the Dodgers. Including the homers Freeman hit in Games 5 and 6 of the 2021 World Series for the Braves against the Astros — a solo homer off Framber Valdez in the former and then another off Ryne Stanek in the latter — Freeman set a new record:

Asked afterwards about the streak, Freeman wasn’t quite ready to put it all in perspective, stressing that he remained focused on the Dodgers sewing up the series, which they now lead three games to one. “I’ll look back on it, after hopefully when we get this thing done tomorrow,” he said. “Pretty cool, obviously. Hopefully I can keep it going tomorrow.”

Here’s a supercut of Freeman’s super cuts:

Not too bad for a guy playing on one leg. “I really don’t think you guys have any idea what he’s putting himself through to be able to play for this,” said Enrique Hernández after the Dodgers’ Game 3 victory. “It’s starting to become some superhero shit.”

If not the stuff of superheroes, Freeman’s sacrifice and performance has inspired his teammates while offering a shot at a fairytale ending to what’s been the most trying season of his career. Even before his sprained ankle, the eight-time All-Star left the Dodgers in late July to be with his family after his 3-year-old son, Maximus, was rushed to the hospital with what was soon diagnosed as Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a rare autoimmune condition that left him temporarily paralyzed and unable to breathe on his own. The Dodgers placed Freeman on the family emergency list, and even at a time when the team was taking its lumps while playing without Betts, Max Muncy, Miguel Rojas, and several starting pitchers due to injuries, they encouraged Freeman to take as much time as he needed.

Fortunately, Maximus’ condition improved enough that Freeman felt comfortable returning to the team after spending 10 days away and missing eight games. His performance tailed off somewhat — under the circumstances, who could blame him? — and he additionally missed time in August due to a jammed right middle finger. After averaging 160 games over the five full seasons from 2018–23 (and playing all 60 during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season en route to NL MVP honors), he played in just 147 games. His .282/.378/.476 line and 137 wRC+ all represented his lowest numbers in three seasons as a Dodger, though the last of those was still good enough to tie Francisco Lindor for eighth in the NL. Both his wRC+ and 4.1 WAR ranked third among all first basemen in either league, behind only Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bryce Harper.

Even given the Dodgers’ positional depth, losing such a lineup mainstay would represent a significant blow to their championship hopes, which had already taken a hit with Tyler Glasnow, Gavin Stone, and Clayton Kershaw ruled out for October. The team collectively held its breath when Freeman sprained his ankle (and also suffered a bone bruise) while trying to avoid a tag by Luis Arraez, and wound up on crutches and in a walking boot. The first-round bye worked in the Dodgers’ favor, but as Freeman later said, he was trying to condense six weeks of rehab and recovery into one.

When Freeman posted up for the Division Series opener and collected singles with exit velos above 100 mph in his first two at-bats against Dylan Cease, it felt like a Willis Reed moment, though the series against the Padres contained more twists and turns than Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals. He went just 2-for-12 the rest of the way, didn’t score or drive in a run all series, and sat out Game 4, when the Dodgers were on the brink of elimination. Muncy shifted over from third base to make his first start at first since October 3, 2021, when he suffered a season-ending UCL tear in his left elbow during a collision with the Brewers’ Jace Peterson. Freeman was back in the linuep for Game 5 only after experimenting with his footwork around first base.

His performance in the Championship Series against the Mets followed a similar pattern. Freeman opened Game 1 by drawing the second of three straight first-inning walks issued by Kodai Senga, and came around to score the Dodgers’ second run. He followed with singles off Reed Garrett in the third inning and David Peterson in the fourth, driving in a run that stretched the score to 6-0 with the latter. But after going just 1-for-10 in Games 2 and 3, he sat out Game 4 in favor of Muncy, then was on the bench again in Game 6 after going 0-for-5 with his first multiple-strikeout game of the postseason in Game 5. “I do think that his swing is not right,” said manager Dave Roberts at the time. “I’m certain that it’s the ankle.”

“It is what it is,” said Freeman at the time. “You guys know I’m very routine-based, and I haven’t been able to do it. I’ll get to the field tomorrow when the training room opens to get my treatment, and right after that get in the cage to try and fix this swing.”

The Dodgers closed out the NLCS while Freeman sat, giving him six days before the start of the World Series. He hardly needed to say a word about the extent to which that helped after legging out a first-inning triple against Gerrit Cole, then capping his comeback with the grand slam. While he hasn’t collected any non-homer hits since the triple, he also hasn’t struck out yet in 17 plate appearances against the Yankees after doing so six times in 33 PA (18.2%) in the first two series.

“I feel good,” said Freeman after Tuesday’s game. “I found a cue during the time I was able to work on my swing with my ankle feeling better. I’ve been actually seeing the ball really well, they’re making mistakes and I’ve been able to hit ’em.”

Per The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya, the cue to which Freeman referred is a mental one: “Rather than think about his front leg stepping toward the plate as the pitcher delivered the ball, Freeman thought to step out. In doing so, the right foot stayed in its proper location but his back leg remained planted longer.

As for his physical condition, Freeman said that the ankle is still swollen but that he’d really gotten “out of the woods” thanks to the treatment plan of the Dodgers’ medical staff. What was previously a five-to-six-hour process is now “about three hours,” per Freeman. “It gets me in a good spot, they get the swelling out, I do mobilities… I’m telling you, it’s weird when you take a few days off when you get injured, you can recover a little bit,” he laughed.

On Tuesday, Freeman showed off the improvement in his ankle by hustling to first base in the fifth inning to beat a throw from shortstop Anthony Volpe. Umpire Chad Fairchild initially ruled him out, completing a potential inning-ending double play, but when the call was overturned on review, it meant Tommy Edman had scored a run, trimming the Yankees’ lead to 5-4.

Statcast clocked Freeman’s sprint speed at 28 feet per second, and his home-to-first time at 4.44 seconds — both well above his season averages of 25.8 fps and 4.64 seconds. “I’m in a good spot — you saw me flying down the line today,” he said. Later he rejected the notion that hitting the bag with his right foot caused any additional pain. “I’m not even thinking about my ankle right now. I’m OK, I promise.”

Checking in on Freeman’s numbers, you can see that when he made contact earlier this month — which wasn’t as frequently as he’s doing now — he produced a whole lot of hard-hit balls, but barreled just one (a 111.4-mph lineout off Yu Darvish in NLDS Game 2), compared to four in the World Series (the homers):

The sample size is small enough that Freeman’s average exit velocity has fallen during the World Series relative to the first two rounds, but obviously, the impact of those barrels more than makes up for the difference.

If the Dodgers do go on to win the World Series, Freeman is the leading candidate to win the MVP award, but for him it’s enough to perform up to his own expectations. “If I’m on the field I expect to play well. That’s just how I am,” he said. “Obviously I didn’t play well the first couple series, I’m glad I’ve been able to do it right now.”