Atlanta Braves’ first baseman Freddie Freeman experienced a tough start to the 2020 MLB season, contracting COVID-19 and racing with time to be with his teammates on Opening Day. Luckily for Freeman and the Braves, he managed to recover in time and go on to produce an impressive campaign that has now been rewarded with National League MVP Award.
The league announced on Thursday that Freeman finished first in the NL MVP voting, receiving 28 out of 30 first-place votes and 410 points out of a possible 420. It made sense that the 31-year-old All-Star gets dominant support for his case considering how dominant he was in 2020.
Despite overcoming COVID-19, Freeman played all 60 games in the shortened MLB season and batted career-high .341. He also added 13 home runs and 53 RBIs while leading the league in doubles with 23.
Freeman became the sixth member of the Braves’ organization to win an MVP award and first since 1999 and Chipper Jones.
“At Truist Park, when you walk down the hall of the clubhouse, all the MVPs are on the wall of the clubhouse, and the Cy Youngs,” said Freeman. “You think, that’d be cool to win that someday… For me to achieve that is still kind of hard to put into words.”
En route to NL MVP Award, Freddie Freeman topped LA Dodgers’ Mookie Betts and San Diego Padres’ Manny Machado. Betts, who led the Dodgers to a World Series win in the postseason, received the remaining two first-place votes and finished with 268 points.
Machado edged out his teammate Fernando Tatis Jr. to finish third in the voting, receiving 221 points.
