NEW YORK – Freddie Freeman set the course for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ championship with a historic home run – and continued to fight his way to becoming World Series MVP.

Freeman hit a home run in each of the first four games of the series and then drove in two runs with a game-winning two-out single in the Dodgers’ 7-6 win in Game 5 on Wednesday night.

While Freeman went on a record-setting streak of six consecutive World Series games with a home run, he narrowly missed the mark at seven – Aaron Judge caught a Freeman drive at the fence early in the game that might have just cleared the wall.

Freeman’s numbers in the series were certainly MVP-worthy – .300, four home runs and 12 RBIs – but it was Freeman’s dramatic home run in Game 1 that set the tone for LA’s victory.

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

That was dramatic enough, but the blast was almost exactly reminiscent of the Dodgers’ Kirk Gibson’s game-winning home run in Game 1 of the 1988 Fall Classic. The similarities were uncanny: The home run wasn’t just a game-winner when it came from behind, it was Freeman’s was hobbled like Gibson when he hit him. Freeman struggled with an ankle sprain during the Dodgers’ postseason run, an ailment that required near-constant treatment.

While Gibson’s legendary “Dinger” was his only punch of the series, Freeman continued to punch. He hit a solo home run in Game 2 and a two-run home run in the first inning of Game 3. He hit a home run again in the first inning of Game 4, another two-run throw, breaking a record for home runs in consecutive World Series games by George Springer of Houston.

The home run streak began when Freeman won his first World Series ring with the Atlanta Braves in 2021. In his World Series career, Freeman posted a .310 batting average with six home runs and 17 RBIs in 11 games.

Freeman, who signed with the Dodgers ahead of the 2022 season after 12 seasons with Atlanta, has managed to continue to stand out in LA’s star-studded 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: Overall, he’s my favorite player in terms of what he does for the culture, the organization and the team.”

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

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