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NEW YORK -- Not even a week ago, it was unclear how many World Series games Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman would be able to play. Freeman sprained his right ankle on Sept. 26 and was clearly diminished in the NLDS and NLCS. He even sat out NLDS Game 4 (an elimination game) and NLCS Game 6 (a potential pennant-clincher). Do you know how much the ankle must have bothered Freeman to miss those games? Sitting them out had to eat at him.

Ultimately, grinding through the injury and sitting out those NLDS and NLCS games was worth it. The Dodgers are one win away from winning the 2024 World Series, and Freeman is a safe bet to be named World Series MVP. In the first inning of Tuesday's Game 4 loss, Freeman took Luis Gil deep to give Los Angeles an early 2-0 lead. 

It was his fourth home run of the series -- and his fourth in his last 10 plate appearances. The streak started with his walk-off grand slam in Game 1. He hit a solo home run in Game 2, and then hit two-run first-inning homers in Games 3 and 4. Take a look at the Game 4 blast:

"I think that we were very high. We were excited," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said about Freeman's homer. "Those guys unfortunately answered back. It was a good ballgame until it wasn't."

Freeman is the first player ever to hit a home run in the first four games of a World Series. He also has a six-game World Series home run streak dating back to his time with the Atlanta Braves in 2021. That six-game streak is the longest in baseball history, breaking a tie with George Springer (2017-19).

Through four games, Freeman was 5 for 15 with a triple, four home runs, a walk, and zero strikeouts. He's also driven in 10 runs. 

The Dodgers had four days off between the end of the NLCS and the start of the World Series and those four days seemed to do Freeman's ankle a world of good. He slashed .219/.242/.219 in eight NLDS and NLCS games, which is decidedly un-Freeman-like, now he has nearly as many extra-base hits in the World Series as the entire Yankees team. It is vintage Freddie Freeman.

In the World Series, Freeman has walked (ran, even) with much less of a limp, enough that he legged out a triple in his first at-bat of the series. The Dodgers removed Freeman for defense in the late innings several times earlier in the postseason, but in the World Series, Freeman has played every inning of every game, and is the best player on the field.

New York's Game 4 win means the Yankees and Dodgers will play Game 5 on Wednesday. That gives Freeman at least one more chance to cement his World Series MVP case and add to his legacy.