ATLANTA -- Freddie Freeman could soon become the first Braves player to win a MVP Award this century.

Freeman, the Dodgers' Mookie Betts and the Padres' Manny Machado are the three finalists for the BBWAA National League MVP Award. The winner will be announced Nov. 12 on MLB Network at 6 p.m. ET.

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The Braves finished a win shy of advancing to the World Series for the first time since 1999, when Chipper Jones was voted NL MVP, making him the most recent Braves player to win the award. Freeman has finished among the top 10 in MVP balloting four times, including three times within the past four seasons. His best finish came in 2018, when he ranked fourth.

After missing much of Summer Camp while recovering from COVID-19, Freeman struggled during the season’s first couple weeks and then proved to be the game’s most productive player the rest of the way. The 31-year-old first baseman produced a MLB-high 3.4 fWAR (Fangraphs’ Wins Above Replacement model) and ranked second among NL position players with a 2.9 bWAR (Baseball-Reference’s WAR model). Betts had 3.4 bWAR.

Freeman led the NL in runs scored (51) and doubles (23), and was third in hits (73). His .341 batting average, .462 on-base percentage, .640 slugging percentage, 1.102 OPS and 187 Weighted Runs Created Plus all ranked second.

The Braves' offense was at its best once manager Brian Snitker opted to put Freeman between leadoff hitter Ronald Acuña Jr. and Marcell Ozuna. Freeman responded by hitting .390 and tallying six of his 13 homers over the 26 games he batted second.

To get a feel for how impressive Freeman was during the shortened 60-game season, he would have recorded a 9.2 fWAR and scored 137 runs had he maintained the same pace over 162 games.

Darrell Evans (9.7 in 1973) and Rogers Hornsby (9.0 in 1928) are the only Braves to ever record a fWAR of 9.0 or higher in a season. Dale Murphy set a franchise record when he scored 131 runs during his 1983 MVP season.

As for the 1.102 OPS Freeman produced this year, it stands as the franchise’s third-highest single-season mark, topped only by Hugh Duffy’s 1.196 in 1894 and Hornsby’s 1.130 in 1928.