In Tuesday night’s Dodgers–D-backs game, Freddie Freeman sent a clear message at first base after Michael Soroka kept throwing over to check him—Freeman had no plans to run.
Tuesday night, first base looked like a stage for a private joke—one Freddie Freeman didn’t even have to explain.
Freeman had already homered in the first inning, then came through again with his second hit in the fifth. Still, the attention at first wasn’t just about the swing—it was about the shuffle.
Michael Soroka, his old teammate and a close presence in the moment, threw over to first a couple of times while Freeman was standing his ground. It was the kind of routine check that’s meant to discourage extra ideas on the basepaths.
But Freeman didn’t play along. The play carried the clear message of someone who had heard the warning and wasn’t buying what was being sold. He appeared to tell Soroka—by the way he reacted and the expression he flashed—that he wasn’t going anywhere.
Soroka’s glance and Freeman’s response created the contrast that makes baseball fun to watch. Freeman stole 23 bases in a season earlier in his career. and at 36 years old. those speed-demon days with the Dodgers are largely behind him. This year, he’s only attempted two swipes, so the pickoff attention wasn’t going to lead to a sprint.
What made the moment land, though, wasn’t just the decision—it was the relationship underneath it. Freeman and Soroka were teammates on the Braves from 2018 to 2021. and they both have ties to Team Canada through the World Baseball Classic. Freeman played for the Canadians in 2017 and 2023, while Soroka pitched for the Canadians in 2026.
That shared history stretches back nearly a decade, and you could feel it in how the chess match unfolded. Soroka kept checking. Freeman kept smiling. The message was simple, and it didn’t need translation: not tonight, not on this pitch, not from this base.
Freddie Freeman Michael Soroka Dodgers D-backs pickoff attempt first base World Baseball Classic Team Canada