The Los Angeles Dodgers have put on a clinic in the World Series thus far. Despite looking pretty evenly matched on paper, the Dodgers have amassed a formidable 3-0 series lead thanks to a healthy amount of late game heroics, clutch performances, and a helping hand from the Yankees' sputtering offense.
However, no player has stood out more in this World Series than Freddie Freeman.
Freeman has been a one-man wrecking crew against the Yankees. After coming into the series with some very real health concerns that threatened his availability, Freeman has instead all but locked up World Series MVP through the first three games, assuming the Dodgers are able to finish the deal swiftly.
Not only is Freeman's .333/.385/1.250 Fall Classic line -- including homers in all three games of the World Series -- impressive by itself, but it is downright wild when you compare his performance against the entire Yankees lineup.
Dodgers' Freddie Freeman is outplaying the Yankees all by himself
Now, some of this needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Yes, of course Freeman is going to strike out less than the Yankees lineup because the man only gets so many at-bats. However, the reality that Freeman has outhomered New York by himself through three games and driven in more runs says a lot about how this World Series has gone so far.
Some credit needs to go to the Dodgers' pitching staff here. LA's starters in Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Walker Buehler have significantly outplayed their Yankee counterparts through the first three games. Sure, it helps that guys like Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm have wilted in the postseason, but LA deserves a hat tip for having a great game plan to limit the Yankees' bats thus far.
Los Angeles has needed every bit of what Freeman has given them in the World Series to push the Dodgers to the brink of another title. Contributions from elsewhere in the lineup have been few and far between, and with Shohei Ohtani now limited by a shoulder injury, it has basically been on Freeman to carry LA to victory since the end of Game 2. Without him going wild in this series, the Dodgers may have found themselves in a much less favorable position.
As it turns out, he has been more than up to the task, and the Dodgers are just one win away from glory.