NEW YORK – Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman could barely walk in the NL Championship Series against the Mets. Yet somehow, in the World Series against the Yankees, he blossomed into the man who won an MVP award in 2020.

Freeman opened the game in the first inning with a two-run home run off Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt. He hit a home run in all three games of the World Series, joining Barry Bonds (2002) and Hank Bauer (1958) as the only players to do so.

In three World Series games, Freeman was 4-for-13 (.333), all extra-base hits, including a triple and three home runs, with seven RBIs. How could he turn his postseason around?

“I think it’s just the six days before the series got huge,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It kind of gave him a chance to get out of the woods. So we’re not out of the woods, but I think it’s manageable and sustainable.”

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Including the day off after Game 5 of the NLCS and sitting out Game 6 of the NLCS, Freeman had six days to rest his ankle before the World Series. It seems that was all he needed to play at near full strength.

In eight games between the NL Division Series and NLCS, Freeman went 7-for-32 with a batting average and a .219 slugging percentage. Between the two series, he managed just one walk, one run and one RBI.

Freeman even sat out two games against the Mets in the NLCS, where he went 3-for-18 (.167 batting average). At that time he was a noticeably weakened player, limping significantly and having trouble walking.

“I think days off when you’re injured really helps,” Freeman said after the Dodgers’ 4-2 win over the Yankees. “But the reason is that I was able to work on my swing. I got my ankle in a spot where I can work on my swing and luckily I got it in a good spot coming into this series.”

Freeman’s home streak exceeds the three hits he hit against the Yankees. Since his inception in 2021, Freeman has hit a home run in five consecutive World Series games, joining George Springer, who did so for the Astros between 2017 and 2019.