Dodgers' Freddie Freeman's Dad Told Him to Stop Playing in Playoffs Amid Multiple Injuries

Maren Angus-Coombs | Nov 4, 2024

Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

Freddie Freeman was lying on the floor unable to pick himself up just days before the Los Angeles Dodgers were scheduled to host the San Diego Padres in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.

After an inconclusive X-ray and a late-night drive to Santa Monica for an MRI, the results arrived: Freeman had broken the costal cartilage in his sixth rib.

The injury would normally sideline a player for months but nothing about Freeman or the situation was normal.

Everything hurt and getting out of the bed in the morning was difficult. His family didn't like seeing him suffering in so much pain.

Freeman's father, Fred, noticed the strain in every small movement, each one hinting at the pain he was enduring. Freddie's injuries — a fractured middle finger in August, along with nagging soreness in his rib and ankle — seemed almost too much to bear. Surely, Fred thought, it might be time for Freddie to sit this one out. There would be more postseasons and more chances ahead.

"I actually told him to stop," Fred told ESPN's Jeff Passan. "I said, 'Freddie, this is not worth it. I know you love baseball. I love baseball. But it's not worth what you're going through.' And he looked at me like I was crazy, and he said, 'Dad, I'm never going to stop.'"

Fortunately for the Dodgers, Freeman didn't stop.

On October 24, just a day before Game 1 of the World Series, Freeman and the Dodgers' staff pinpointed a key adjustment to reignite the power that had been missing in the first two playoff rounds.

"Dad," Freeman told Fred, "my swing is back. It's as good as it's been all year."

Fred had heard this many times before. Sometimes his son was spot on; other times, he wasn’t. Fred wanted to stay hopeful, but he needed proof before he could fully believe it.

It turns out that his son was right. Freeman launched himself into baseball history with a home run in each of the first four games and he was eventually named MVP of the World Series. Nobody outside of his inner circle even knew about his rib injury.

"I gave myself to the game, to the field," Freeman said. "I did everything I could to get onto that field. And that's why this is really, really sweet. I'm proud of the fact that I gave everything I could to this team and I left it all out there. That's all I try to do every single night. When I go home and put my head on that pillow, I ask if I gave everything I had that night. And usually it's a yes. One hundred percent of the time it's a yes. But this one was a little bit sweeter because I went through a lot. My teammates appreciated it. The organization appreciated it. And to end it with a championship makes all the trying times before games, what I put myself through to get on the field, worth it."