Freddie Freeman's insistence on playing through injuries is paying off

As the ball flew toward the stands as the Los Angeles Dodgers poured out of their dugout and onto the field, most of the sellout crowd of 52,394 thought of Kirk Gibson. Another hobbling left-hander, defying common sense and biology, limped to the plate and ended Game 1 of a World Series with a walk-off home run to right field to give LA three wins away from the title.

But as he danced around the bases, Freddie Freeman, owner of the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history, the scoreboard flashing DODGERS 6, YANKEES 3, thought of his father.

“He’s been giving me batting practice for as long as I can remember,” he says. “My swing is thanks to him. My approach is thanks to him. I am who I am because of him.” After greeting his teammates at home plate, he made his way to the stands where he found his father in the front row. “If he didn’t love the game of baseball, I wouldn’t be here playing this game,” Freddie says. “So this is Fred Freeman’s moment.”

As for the Gibson comparison – the other most dramatic walk-off in LA history was when Gibson, battling a torn tendon in his left leg and a torn ligament in his right leg in 1988, came into the game as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning and had to leave for a deuce -Run shot – Freeman just grins.

“But I played the whole game,” he says.

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If availability is indeed the most important skill, Freeman's October should get him into the Hall of Fame. He badly sprained his right ankle while trying to avoid a hit at first base on September 26 and spent the next month hobbling from the training table to the infield and back. Doctors recommended he take four to six weeks off. It took him eight days. He only missed three playoff games. He spends hours every day getting treatment and barely manages to make it to the batsmen's meeting. His teammates take turns being inspired by his bravery, wincing every time he does it.

“The game honors you,” said manager Dave Roberts. “If you do things right, play right, you're a good teammate – I just think the game honors you. Freddie was honored tonight.”

However, sometimes the insistence on playing the game properly drives them crazy. On Friday, for example, the Dodgers were the only ones more upset than the Yankees when New York left fielder Alex Verdugo misplayed a freeman grounder. There was Freeman, who hit a triple. “We're all thinking, 'Oh no, Verdugo, you should have cut that!'” recalled Dodgers centerfielder Kiké Hernández. “Stop him on the first or second!”

Roberts says: “I was glad he came out of it upright.”

Hernández says he's actually glad the Dodgers lost twice to the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series because a five-game series would have moved up the start of the World Series. Instead, they bought three extra days. “The days off were huge (for Freeman),” he says.

Freeman hadn't run for a week until he jogged for introductions before Game 1, but he started to feel better two or three days earlier when he and hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc noticed he was finally able to draw strength from the floor again . “In this way, he transfers the pressure to the inside of his foot,” explains Van Scoyoc. “He avoided it.”

When Freeman was at his worst – near the end of the NLCS – he was barely able to swing the bat. Before Friday, he had not had an extra-base hit since the injury and was hitting .167 in the NLCS. Roberts admitted before Game 6 of that series that “you could argue” that Freeman's insistence on playing was starting to hurt the team. “But I could also argue that him doing what he can to be on the field and post up, I think speaks loudly in this clubhouse,” Roberts added. For his part, Freeman says he was unaware of the criticism and disagrees with it.

But he started throwing the ball to left field during batting practice this week, and he knew he was back or about to be.

The Yankees were less sure. In the bottom of the 10th, after taking a 3-2 lead in the top half of the frame, New York reliever Jake Cousins ​​allowed a one-out walk and then a single to Shohei Ohtani at the plate bring to. Manager Aaron Boone brought in left-handed starter Nestor Cortés, who had been out since September 18 with a flexor tendon strain. Ohtani was 2 of 12 against Cortés. “I don’t know if you ever enjoy a match against Ohtani, but I felt like Nestor could give us a chance,” Boone said. Cortés retired Ohtani due to a foul on Verdugo, but as runners advanced to second and third base, leaving first open, Boone elected to walk with right-hander Mookie Betts and pursue Freeman.

“We all thought Shohei would break up,” Hernández says. “It would have been a fairytale ending to his first World Series game, but the fact that Freddie was the one who did it – even better.”

Freeman says he understands the decision. Roberts said he watched his first baseman take it personally. “I think he did it, and I think he should do it,” he says. “They are competitors, and that’s how it should be.”

“Fre-ddie, Fre-ddie,” the fans shouted. Out in the bullpen, the Dodgers relievers got goosebumps. Freeman decided to look inside — so he could avoid the cutter and slider — and wait for a fastball. He didn't have to wait long: first pitch, 93 miles per hour, in and around his knees. He knew it was gone immediately. And when he jogged around the bases for the first time in a month, his ankle didn't hurt at all.