Red-hot Freeman sets record with HR in SIXTH straight World Series game

NEW YORK -- Freddie Freeman just won’t stop mashing World Series home runs -- and with his first-inning homer in Game 4 on Tuesday night, he mashed his way straight into the record books.

Freeman became the first player in history to homer in six consecutive World Series games, dating back to his trip to the Fall Classic with Atlanta in 2021. He has homered in every game of the ‘24 World Series -- including a potentially Series-defining walk-off grand slam in Game 1.

“I’ll look back at it after, hopefully, we get this thing done tomorrow,” Freeman said. “But pretty cool obviously.”

Tomorrow. The Dodgers are only playing Wednesday because they couldn’t close out New York in Game 4 on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, suffering an 11-4 loss despite an early advantage courtesy of Freeman. Los Angeles holds a 3-1 advantage in the Fall Classic.

Had Los Angeles won on Tuesday night, Freeman would’ve become the first player to homer in every game of a single World Series. Hey, he still could.

“Hopefully, I can keep it going tomorrow,” he said.

Only Houston’s George Springer had homered in four straight games within a single World Series, having done so in Games 4-7 in 2017, but Freeman is the first to do it in the first four games of the Fall Classic.

He’s opened the scoring in each of the past two games with a two-run homer in the top of the first inning. On Tuesday, after Mookie Betts smacked a one-out double into the right-field corner, Yankees starter Luis Gil hung a slider on the outer half. Freeman launched it into the right-field seats at Yankee Stadium.

“I found a cue during the time I was able to work on my swing with my ankle feeling better, and I’ve actually been seeing the ball really well and they’re making mistakes and I’ve been able to hit them,” Freeman said.

Freeman is now hitting .313 in four games this World Series with an absurd 1.541 OPS. His 10 RBIs in the Series have set a franchise record -- passing Duke Snider (1952) and Gil Hodges (‘56), who each had eight.

Those numbers are all the more remarkable considering Freeman entered the Series hobbled by a severe right ankle sprain that he sustained at the end of September. His Game 1 homer was reminiscent of Kirk Gibson’s walk-off blast in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, amid multiple injuries.

But Freeman has said he’s felt better since the start of the World Series, particularly after the Dodgers had four days off following their National League Championship Series victory over the Mets. He even legged out an RBI forceout to avoid a potential double play, briefly cutting the Dodgers’ deficit to 5-4 in the fifth.

Afterward, a reporter said Freeman was “fast” getting down the line, and he broke into a grin.

“Haven’t heard ‘fast’ in a sentence to me in a long time,” Freeman said.

Despite Tuesday’s loss, Freeman remains the obvious favorite to win World Series MVP -- and he’d surely cement his case if he could become the first player in history to homer in five straight games within a single Fall Classic.

“For a guy like Freddie, who doesn’t really need anything more to cement his legacy,” said Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy, “this has been a pretty special run.”