After being very worried about her son
Freddie Freeman tells the most heartbreaking story of the season
November 1, 2024, 11:01 a.m
The Los Angeles Dodgers win the baseball World Series in spectacular fashion – also because of a badly shaken veteran. The aging and damaged Freddie Freeman moves into the leading role that was originally intended for Shohei Ohtani.
His childhood dream had barely come true when the $700 million man was jumping around exuberantly – like a small child. Shohei Ohtani, probably the best baseball player in the world, splashed champagne and beer in the locker room of the Los Angeles Dodgers, wearing ski goggles, as is usual in these triumphant showers, so that his eyes would only get wet through tears of joy.
“My first year and the experience of winning a World Series were an enormous honor for me,” emphasized the 30-year-old Japanese after the crazy comeback to 7:6 in the fifth final game at the New York Yankees. With a 4-1 win, the Dodgers won the title for the eighth time – for Ohtani it was the first: he left the Angels in the south of Los Angeles in the winter and joined the Dodgers in the north on a ten-year contract.
Ohtani is having a monster season. And the fact that he dislocated his shoulder in the second game of the World Series – not worth mentioning. But as so often, someone else became the hero of the final best-of-seven series, this time: the aging and damaged Freddie Freeman.
“This is what you dream about as a five-year-old”
Freeman, 35 years old, already 2021 World Champion with the Atlanta Braves, then moved to the Dodgers, had shaped the World Series from the start, with a so-called walk-off grand slam in the first game: in the tenth inning, at one Trailing 2:3, he hit a home run with three teammates on three bases, 6:3, game over. This was probably the decisive blow for the Yankees, regardless of their victory in the fourth game.
“These are the things, these are the moments, that you dream about when you’re a five-year-old playing in the back yard with your two older brothers,” said Freeman, who also has one of those heartbreaking stories to tell that happens in a Hollywood script could stand: His season was shaped by his son Max, who was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome in July. It was only after immunotherapy that Max was able to walk again in August.
Freeman symbolized the resilience of the Dodgers, who had already faced early elimination in the quarterfinals against the San Diego Padres in a season marked by many injuries. “It seems like we’ve hit every bump in the road this year and it’s special to overcome that,” Freeman said. He was also injured, but ignored a nasty ankle injury and broken rib cartilage.
“Let’s do this nine more times”
The record champions had little or nothing to counter this resilience. The final fifth game was significant, when the Yankees led 5-0, but then made a number of completely absurd defensive errors in a ridiculous fifth inning. “This is one of the biggest meltdowns I’ve seen in 40 years,” said Alex Rodriguez, who won their 27th and most recent World Series with the Yankees in 2009, as a television pundit.
Meanwhile, Ohtani was already thinking about the future, about the remaining years of his contract. “Let’s do this nine more times,” he said to club boss Andrew Friedman. He replied with a grin: “He wins it in the first year and thinks it’s easy.” It’s not.
