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Alden Gonzalez
Los Angeles – The image of a triumphant Freddie Freeman From the night of October 25, 2024 – Midstroll, stoic face, the right hand pointed upwards – was tattooed on body parts throughout the county. Freeman himself signed four, three on Shins and one on one arm. He was going almost everywhere in southern California without being recognized, even in the areas where he grew up. Now it never happens. Fans approach him everywhere, many telling precisely where they were when he struck Walk-off’s Grand Chelem in match 1 of the World Series who helped propel the Dodgers of Los Angeles at a championship. Often they just say, THANKS.
“I’m happy,” said Freeman. “It means that something well happened, right? You do not try to hope that this moment happens; it comes in a way to you, and you hope you are ready for the moment. There are so many times when I have failed, and no one really remembers failure.”
Freeman’s Home Run, the first of the four in a world series that saw him produced honors of 1,364 ops and MVP winner, was represented on countless bobbleheads, t-shirts and paintings. He was broadcast on the Dodger Stadium videoboard before each home game and could continue to play it forever, a bit like the heroism of Kirk Gibson 36 years earlier.
Freeman strikes better than ever in his 35 -year -old season, even by fighting the same ankle injury that tormented him in October. In one way or another, it was more productive in the thirties than in their twenties. Reaching 3,000 strokes, an almost unimaginable feat during such a predominantly of launchers, remains a distinct possibility. The temple of fame is almost certainty. But a swing over one night will be in some ways that everything Freeman never accomplishes, a reality underlined by the return of the Yankees to the Dodger Stadium this weekend.
“And it’s okay,” said Freeman. “Something big has happened for us to win a world series, and I loved every second.”
Freeman is as rigorous on his routine as any athlete, but he is also sentimental. And while several of his teammates spoke earlier this year about the importance of moving on in the hope of avoiding disappointment, Freeman wondered why he could not be both. In his mind, we can savor an accomplishment while preparing for another. He found himself wanting to marinate at that time, largely because he played long enough to appreciate his singularity.
An interaction with a fan, lasting three minutes, has reinforced this.
Freeman was part of a group of Dodgers players during a lunch on January 31 for those affected by forest fires; It was part of the team’s annual community visit. There, a man told how he gave up drinking the night of the Home Run in Freeman. Freeman can recall every detail of this conversation. The fan sat in the right field section and promised to remain sober in order to be more present for his two sons. Freeman’s ball at home sailed above their heads, and all that his sons wanted to do was play baseball the next morning. As a rule, the man said to Freeman, he would be too much wood to join them. This time he had the energy to play all day. The fan said that he had not touched alcohol since.
“Just chills,” said Freeman by relaying this story. “And you think of how not only baseball, but sport can have an impact on people’s lives in such a positive way that you can be part of something that is a fairly special thing. I love this game. This game helped me get through difficult times when I lost my mother and things like that; Me and my father went here to play baseball, do things.
“It helps. And when you finish in a loop 25 years later, when you are 35 years old and you create a moment for someone – that’s what it is for me. I love winning and the championships, but to know that I have been able to have an impact on someone’s life in such a positive way – I still don’t know if I can grasp it.”
When Freeman crossed the marble, the first thing he did was stimulated his father, Fred, and led him to five through the net behind the marble. Freeman’s mother died due to melanoma at the age of 10. But Fred had also lost his wife. All his life was turned upside down. However, he continued to introduce himself to his children. Baseball has become their therapy. The story of this fan has made Freeman think about how these two boys could be impacted by their father who also presents himself for them, and how a moment can have such a deep impact.
“Sport is cool, guy,” said Freeman, shaking his head. “As, it can do so many good things for so many people.”
Freeman had struggled in the first three weeks of the last playoff series while playing through the right ankle injury that he suffered on September 26, the night when the dodgers won a Bye in the first round, and The rib injury he suffered a week later. Towards the end of the national league championship series, he had trouble holding his front in the striker. Any attempt to put strength on the ground rolled Freeman’s foot. He turned out to defeat match 5 against the New York Mets was a boon.
MLB had implemented an adjustment in its calendar of the playoffs which allowed the World Series to start early if the two leagues concluded their series of championships in five games or less. The Yankees conformed, sending the Cleveland goalkeepers In match 5. But the Dodgers lost against the food, extending the series to a sixth game.
Said Freeman: “It has changed everything for me.”
Instead of only obtaining three days off before the World Series, Freeman sat for match 6, watched the Dodgers enclosure to make his way to a pennant, and when the Yankees arrived at the Dodger stadium for match 1, he had received six full rest days. It was suddenly a more complete version of itself, mobile enough for having made a triple first round and flexible enough to light Nestor Cortes“The quick ball of the 10th round, sending it 413 feet to deliver one of the most emblematic moments in the history of the playoffs. The Dodgers won the series in five.
“So many little things,” said Freeman, “and it could have gone so many different ways.”
Freeman felt pretty good after the World Series to assume that rest did not cure his ankle. Four weeks later, he could barely walk. Imaging revealed that he had torn four ligaments. Surgery was necessary. Freeman spent the following four months methodically rehabilitating himself, then slipped into her shower on March 30, reacting his ankle and causing a short stay on the injured list.
During his first 11 games back, Freeman only beat. 2550. His hips opened too early and his swing did not stay in the striking area long, the continuation of a mechanical problem that spent most of the previous year. But a sixth round single against the opposite field Paul Skenes On April 25, unlocked a feeling that Freeman had sought. Since then, he cuts. 412 / .474 / .647 in 31 games. Its average in the stick of .368 and 1.065 ops this season are ranked above than everyone who is not named Aaron judge. His 186 weighted points created more are tied for his best career, which takes place during the Cavid-19 season, when he was appointed MVP NL.
A team of dodgers who was expected by a lot challenging the regular season’s victories record currently has 14 launchers on the injured list and had to eliminate just to maintain a slight advantage on the San Diego Padres And Giants of San Francisco In the NL West, when he was seated at 35-22. Thanks to this, the Dodgers manager, Dave Roberts, thinks that Freeman has released another level of intensity.
“It is made up,” said Roberts. “It is not as lax intensity that it is generally; It is more daring intensity. ”
The daily treatment on the right ankle of Freeman was reduced from four hours in October in October in as little as 40 minutes. This feels considerably better, but the coaches told him that it would not have a good time for a while around the break of the stars. Freeman still wears heel elevators in his cleats to alleviate part of the discomfort. His first steps in the morning still come with agonizing pain. The dodgers will not let him fly bases, even when the weather is on his side, a restriction that eats away at him. But production continues.
Freeman is at the rate of 7.1 Fangraphs victories above the replacement this season, which would represent the second total of his highest career. If he gets there, he will rank seventh among the first base players at FWAR compiled between 31 to 35, behind Roger Connor, Willie Stargell, Bill Terry, Mark McGwire, Stan Musial and Lou Gehrig. If he accumulates only 75 strokes more, quasi-certainty if he avoids prolonged injuries, he will have compiled more than 2,400 at the end of the season, giving him a chance to fight at 3000 in the rear half of his 30 years.
In the twenty, Freeman reduced .293 / .379 / .504. In the thirties, he increased this to .317 / .405 / .533. These days, Freeman has an additional incentive to remain productive:
He wants all these tattoos of his home run to resist.
“I need to stay well,” said Freeman, “so that they still appreciate them in 30 years.”