Freddie Freeman: The all-around ‘good dude’ who is now a World Series MVP

(CNN) — Freddie Freeman has essentially done it all in Major League Baseball. He is an eight-time All-Star. Five-time All-MLB Team member. A former National League (NL) MVP. The owner of several regular season awards.

Now, the 35-year-old can call himself a World Series MVP.

Freeman and the Los Angeles Dodgers claimed the 2024 World Series title on Wednesday, defeating the New York Yankees 7-6 in Game 5 to win the series four games to one.

It is the eighth championship in Dodgers franchise history and the second of Freeman’s career, adding to the title he won with the Atlanta Braves three years ago.

The 15-year MLB veteran entered the Fall Classic nursing a sprained ankle but allayed Dodgers fans’ almost immediately with a history-making performance in Game 1 and went on to be the team’s standout player throughout the series.

To Freeman, winning is all that matters.

“This is everything,” Freeman said after being named MVP. “I wouldn’t be here without the support of everybody in these shirts tonight. It’s been a grind these last three months … it’s been a lot. This is it right here.”

Freeman was alluding to the health struggles of his three-year-old son Max, who was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome – a rare neurological disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks nerve cells – earlier this year.

In July, Max went into full paralysis and Freeman left the Dodgers to be with his family at the hospital. Eventually, doctors said that his son would make a recovery and Freeman rejoined the team in August.

“These have been the hardest and scariest days of our lives,” Freeman’s wife, Chelsea, wrote on Instagram. “Maximus is such a special boy and he has been fighting SO hard. This is going to be a journey to recover, but we have faith that he will be completely healed.”

“I’ll never compare Maximus to baseball,” said Freeman after Game 5, according to the Associated Press. “I won’t. It’s just two separate things, but with him doing really well now, it does mean a little bit extra.”