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With his walk-off home run in game 6, David Freese etched in name in World Series lore, but he did so much more than this this post season.

In sum this World Series, the third baseman hit .348, with five of his eight hits going for extra bases. For good measure, he added a slick catch on Josh Hamilton’s foul pop in Game 7.

Tack those feats onto his postseason totals and Freese finished with a .397 average, five home runs and a Major League-record 21 RBIs in 18 games.

Many of them were big hits, important hits, especially at the end. Freese’s double in Game 7 tied things after the Rangers had taken a quick lead. His 11th-inning, walk-off home run in Game 6 capped one of the most improbable comebacks in World Series history, after his ninth-inning, two-run triple gave the Cardinals a chance.

Freese became the sixth player to win the MVP in the league championship series and then winning the World Series MVP award. He gets a black Corvette to remind him of this classic World Series.

He’s also an example of the importance of having a short memory in sports. He had some tough plays in the field, and his errors cost the Cards some runs, but he came back and delivered in the clutch.

Tom Verducci speculated that this series might go to seven games and he was right. The St. Louis comebacks in game 6 will be remembered for years along with other classic World Series moments. You had the feeling that Texas needed to jump on the Cardinals early in order to win this game, but they only managed two runs in the early innings when Chris Carpenter was having trouble locating his fastball. Once Dave Duncan pointed out that Carpenter might want to try his curve ball, the ace of the Cardinals staff settled down and the Rangers watched their chances slip away.

This one will be tough to swallow for the Rangers. Twice they came within one strike of a world title in game 6, only to see things fall apart. They have a great team, but they’ve been on the losing end two years in a row. The experts on ESPN are predicting that the Rangers will be active in free agency, perhaps going after Prince Fielder or even Albert Pujols. I think they need a dominant #1 starter, so perhaps C.C. Sabathia will be in their sites as well.