3 Dodgers who deserve World Series MVP if Freddie Freeman didn't exist

While the 2024 World Series isn't officially over, the Los Angeles Dodgers for all intents and purposes slammed the door in Game 3, silencing the New York Yankees once again en route to a 4-2 win and a commanding 3-0 series lead. Sure, there's still technically a chance for New York to erase the pain of 2004 and become the first team in baseball history to come back from a 3-0 lead in the World Series. But after the way the first three games have gone — and the way Aaron Judge is swinging the bat right now — it looks like the rest is just a formality.

Which means it's time to shift our focus to handing out some hardware. The race for World Series MVP got drained of most of its suspense the minute Freddie Freeman's walk-off grand slam landed in the bleachers to end Game 1; hitting one of the game's most iconic homers alone would've been enough to secure the award, but Freeman has just kept on mashing since, going deep in Games 2 and 3 to boot en route to a 1.635 OPS for the series. But for as great as he's been, Freeman isn't the only reason the Dodgers are a win away from their first full-season title since 1988. It's time for some of his teammates to get some love, too.

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3. Teoscar Hernandez

Hernandez delivered one of the biggest swings of Game 2, launching an opposite-field, two-run homer off of Carlos Rodon to stake the Dodgers to a 3-1 lead they wouldn't relinquish. He's hitting .333 for the series, one of three Dodgers (along with Freeman and Mookie Betts) to have driven in multiple runs over the first three games. And he's even brought a little defense to the party to boot, throwing out Giancarlo Stanton at home plate in Game 3 to keep the Yankees off the board. With Shohei Ohtani ailing and Betts struggling a bit, Hernandez has been the ideal counterpart to Freeman atop L.A.'s order.

2. Tommy Edman

What a postseason for Edman, who was an afterthought when the Dodgers acquired him from the St. Louis Cardinals but has become indispensable in October. After taking home NLCS MVP honors, Edman has kept right on rolling in the World Series, slashing .364/.417/.818 with a homer, two doubles and a stolen base. His single in the bottom of the 10th helped set the stage for Freeman's heroics, he got the Dodgers on the board with a solo homer early in Game 2 and he flashed some impressive leather to help snuff out a potential rally in Game 3. The Dodgers lineup was feeling awfully top-heavy entering these playoffs, and Edman has been a lifesaver.

1. Yoshinobu Yamamoto

While Hernandez and Edman would be worthy choices, no non-Freeman Dodger has shone as brightly in this series as Yamamoto, who was simply sensational over 6.1 innings of one-hit ball in Game 2. Given how the ninth inning of that game went, the L.A. really didn't have very much margin for error. But Yamamoto was nails, looking every bit like the ace the Dodgers were hoping for when they handed him $325 million last winter ($25 million more than the Yankees were reportedly willing to offer, I might add.) Yamamoto's rookie season Stateside was waylaid a bit by injury, but when a beleaguered Dodgers rotation needed him, he delivered in a big way.