Freeman earned World Series MVP after the historic run

NEW YORK — Freddie Freeman capped the Los Angeles Dodgers' championship run with a historic homer — and held on to the World Series MVP.

Freeman homered in each of the first four games of the series, then drove in two runs with a clutch two-out single during the Dodgers' 7-6 clinching win in Game 5 on Wednesday night.

Freeman had a record-setting streak of six consecutive World Series games with a homer snap, he just missed extending the mark by seven — Aaron Judge snagged a Freeman drive early in the game that the fence likely cleared the wall.

Freeman's numbers in the series were certainly MVP-worthy — .300, four homers and 12 RBIs — but it was Freeman's dramatic Game 1 homer that set the tone for LA's sweep.

With two outs in the 10th inning and the Dodgers trailing 3-2, Freeman pulled a Nestor Cortes fastball into the right-field seats at Dodger Stadium for the first game-ending grand slam in World Series history.

It was dramatic enough, but the blast almost exactly echoed the Dodgers' Kirk Gibson's game-ending homer in Game 1 of the 1988 Fall Classic. The similarities were eerie: Not only was the homer a come-from-behind game winner, but like Gibson, Freeman was stymied when it hit. Freeman battled an ankle sprain during the Dodgers' postseason run, an ailment that required near-constant treatment.

While Gibson's legendary dinger was his only at-bat of the series, Freeman kept on mashing. He hammered a solo homer in Game 2 and a two-run homer in the first inning of Game 3. He homered again in the first inning of Game 4, another two-run shot, breaking a record for homers in consecutive World Series game sets. By George Springer of Houston.

The homer streak began when Freeman won his first World Series ring in 2021 with the Atlanta Braves. In his World Series career, Freeman hit .310 in 11 games with six homers and 17 RBIs.

Freeman, who signed with the Dodgers before the 2022 season after 12 seasons with Atlanta, has managed to stand out even in the star-studded L.A. clubhouse. This is especially true for his manager, Dave Roberts.

“If I had a player,” Roberts said, considering his next words. “I've said it before, if you — put it all together, he's my favorite player to be around because of the culture, the organization, what he does for the team.”

Freeman has an active streak of seven consecutive World Series games with an RBI, which is tied for the third-longest stretch in history. He collected at least one hit in each of his 11 World Series games.

Freeman, the NL MVP in 2020, became the 12th player to win both the regular-season and a World Series MVP. Ten of the previous 11 are in the Hall of Fame.