As Freddie Freeman continues to dominate in a Dodgers uniform, his latest playoff performance against the Braves serves as a harsh reminder of Atlanta’s front-office gamble.
The crowd at Truist Park let Freddie Freeman hear it. a chorus of boos raining down from the stands whenever the former face of the franchise stepped into the box. But if the intent was to rattle a man who spent 12 years wearing an Atlanta uniform, it failed. By the end of Tuesday’s 3-1 Dodgers victory in Game 3 of the National League Division Series. the loudest sound in the stadium was the thud of a baseball clearing the fence.
Freeman’s 399-foot solo home run off Braves ace Chris Sale in the third inning pushed the Dodgers’ lead to 3-0. It was his second home run in three NLDS games. a sharp reversal for a hitter who had managed only one long ball across his final 66 regular-season games. After the win. Freeman traced the sudden surge to a minor mechanical adjustment: opening his shoulders by just a couple of inches after a session reviewing past video during the bye week. “Baseball,” he noted, “is a game of inches.”.
Those inches have cost Atlanta dearly. The sequence of events remains a bitter pill for the Braves faithful: the contract talks that stalled in 2022. the abrupt pivot by the front office to trade for Matt Olson. and the eventual departure of the man drafted out of El Modena High in 2007. In his place, the Dodgers found a perennial postseason force. This latest shot was Freeman’s 18th career playoff home run—nine of them now coming in Dodger blue—and his fifth career postseason homer at Truist Park. moving him ahead of teammate Kiké Hernández. who hit his own 17th career postseason home run just two batters earlier.
The game nearly turned into a nightmare for the Braves in more ways than one. In the third inning. Atlanta left fielder Mauricio Dubón denied Freeman a second home run with a desperate. leaping catch at the wall. Yet. as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts put it. “No moment’s going to be too big for him.” Beyond the plate. Freeman’s reliability remained on display; he currently holds the third-best fielding percentage among active first basemen at .997. He sealed the win with a crucial pick of a squirrely throw from Mookie Betts to retire Mike Yastrzemski. leaving Ozzie Albies stranded at third and ending the threat.
The irony of the evening was not lost on the Dodgers’ social media team. who offered a playful. public “thank you” to the Atlanta fans for their vocal reception. For his part, Freeman claimed the hostility barely registered. Clad in his gray uniform. he shrugged off the jeers with a smile. maintaining that his affection for his former organization remains unchanged. “I’ve had wonderful experiences with the white uniform on here, and I loved every second of it,” he said. “It’s all love.”.
The reality, however, is etched in the box score. Since the Braves opted against re-signing the 37-year-old first baseman. they have watched him deliver for Los Angeles on the biggest stages. From the six-year. $162-million contract that brought him to Southern California. to his walk-off grand slam against the New York Yankees. and his 406-foot walk-off shot in an 18-inning marathon against the Toronto Blue Jays. Freeman has become the very thing the Braves decided they no longer needed. Against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers’ lead proved insurmountable, as it has for every opponent the ace has faced this season. For those in Atlanta who remember the 2007 draft. the sight of Freeman rounding the bases in an opposing jersey wasn’t just another home run—it was a reminder that in professional sports. the line between loyalty and regret is often measured in inches.
Freddie Freeman Braves Dodgers NLDS MLB playoffs Chris Sale Matt Olson baseball