Everyone saw the walk-off grand slam. It was the kind of moment that makes grown men cry and kids start practicing their swing in the backyard until the sun goes down. Freddie Freeman, gimpy and struggling, hobbling around the bases like a man who’d just finished a marathon on a broken leg. We all knew about the ankle. It was the talk of the town. But the truth about the Freddie Freeman injury World Series run is actually way more gnarly than what was being broadcast on the jumbotron at the time.
Honestly, the guy shouldn't have been on the field. Basically, he was held together by athletic tape, stubbornness, and probably a fair amount of anti-inflammatories.
Most fans thought it was just a bad sprain. They were wrong. It was a lot worse. While we were all focused on his right foot, Freddie was hiding a literal break in his torso that would have put most people in a recliner for three months.
The Secret He Kept: Broken Costal Cartilage
The ankle was public knowledge. He suffered a "serious" right ankle sprain on September 26, 2024, trying to avoid a tag. It was a high ankle sprain—the kind that usually takes four to six weeks to heal. He tried to come back in eight days.
But here’s the kicker.
The day before the NLDS started, October 4, Freeman was in the batting cage. He’d just finished telling the press he was good to go. On his 13th swing, something snapped. He didn't just feel a "pop"; he literally crumbled to the floor. He couldn't get up. After a midnight MRI in Santa Monica, the diagnosis came back: broken costal cartilage in his sixth rib.
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That’s not a "bruise." It’s a rib injury that makes breathing feel like someone is stabbing you with a butter knife.
Jeff Passan later revealed that Freeman's dad, Fred, actually told him to stop. He told his son it wasn’t worth it. Freddie looked at him like he was crazy and said, "Dad, I’m never going to stop." You can't teach that kind of grit. You're either born with it or you aren't.
A Timeline of Pain
- Late August: Fractured his middle finger. Most people forgot about this because, well, he’s Freddie Freeman and he just kept hitting.
- September 26: The ankle gives out. He misses the final three games of the regular season.
- October 4: The rib cartilage breaks. He collapses in the cage but decides to play through it anyway.
- The NLDS/NLCS: He's a shell of himself. He goes 7-for-32. No extra-base hits. He sits out Game 6 of the NLCS because he literally can't move properly.
Why the Freddie Freeman injury World Series Performance Was Impossible
By the time the World Series rolled around against the Yankees, Freddie had four days of rest. Most people thought it was just a "reset" for his ankle. In reality, it was the first time in weeks he could take a deep breath without wincing.
During those four days, he found a "cue" in his swing. Because he couldn't use his lower body fully (the ankle) and he couldn't rotate his torso normally (the ribs), he had to reinvent how he hit the ball. He simplified everything. He decided to just "swing at strikes and hit mistakes."
Then Game 1 happened.
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Bases loaded. Bottom of the 10th. Nestor Cortes on the mound.
Freeman didn't just hit a home run; he hit the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history. He did it with a broken rib and a leg that was basically a pillar of salt. He went on to homer in the first four games of the series, setting a record for consecutive World Series games with a long ball (six, if you count his 2021 run with the Braves).
He finished the series with 12 RBIs, tying a record that had stood for decades. He won the MVP. He did all of this while his 3-year-old son, Maximus, was recovering from a terrifying bout with Guillain-Barré syndrome. The mental load alone would have broken most athletes.
What This Means for the Dodgers Moving Forward
Looking back, the Freddie Freeman injury World Series saga changed the way the Dodgers handle him. In the 2025 season, the team was way more cautious. When he slipped in the shower in April 2025 and tweaked that same ankle, they didn't let him "tough it out." They put him on the 10-day IL immediately.
Dave Roberts basically admitted they learned their lesson. You can't let a guy like Freddie decide when he’s healthy because he will always say "yes."
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The long-term impact of playing through broken rib cartilage is real. It can lead to compensatory injuries—where you hurt something else because you're moving weird to protect the original injury. This is likely why we saw some dip in his power numbers early in the following year.
What you should keep an eye on:
- Mobility Drills: Watch his pre-game routine. He spends nearly three hours a day on physical therapy now.
- The "Shower Incident": It sounds funny, but it shows the ankle is still a vulnerability. High ankle sprains can lead to chronic instability if the ligaments don't tighten back up.
- Load Management: Expect him to take more "DH" days. The Dodgers need his bat more than they need his glove at first base 162 times a year.
If you’re a fan or a collector, that Game 1 ball and those MVP cards are basically artifacts of human endurance now. We talk about Kirk Gibson in 1988, but Freeman did it for five games straight with two different "season-ending" injuries.
Next time you see him limping after a tough play at first, remember: he's probably played through worse.
If you want to understand the mechanics of how he changed his swing to compensate for the rib pain, I’d suggest looking at his spray charts from the 2024 postseason versus his career averages. He stopped trying to pull everything and started staying through the zone longer. It's a masterclass in adaptation.