Braves vs Dodgers First Baseman Freddie Freeman Is Exactly Where He Belongs
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The first domestic run of the rest of Freddie Freeman’s career came in opposition to the handiest group he had ever acknowledged till this 12 months, and against the friends who moved him to tears upon seeing them before the sport. Freeman had not visible maximum of his World Series champion Braves teammates due to the fact that their victory parade. Now a Dodger, either due to the fact he overplayed his hand or because the Braves saw a gap to get the following Freeman (maximum in all likelihood each), he emphatically turned the web page with the aid of swatting his first homer as a Dodger in his first at-bat against his former team.
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman, left, hits a solo domestic run as Atlanta Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud watches at some point of the primary inning of a three-hitter Monday, April 18, 2022, in Los Angeles.
Dodgers teammate Trea Turner had joked with Freeman before the sport that he had waited until the crew’s 10th recreation to head backyard due to the fact that would be his first in opposition to the simplest employer he knew for 15 years. Turner changed into prophetic, but Freeman wasn’t buying the best-in-Hollywood storyline on emotional nighttime for him.
“Being able to see them once more,” Freeman said about his pals and former teammates. “That is the tale line for me.”
Freeman’s home run jumpstarted the Dodgers to their 7th immediately win, 7–4. They look as loaded as you would assume a crew with 12 All-Stars, the maximum in baseball, and as many because the Guardians, Reds, Orioles, Pirates, and A’s combined. Two MVPs hit homers for the Dodgers (Freeman and Cody Bellinger), any other scored a run (Mookie Betts) and a fourth turned into the triumphing pitcher (Clayton Kershaw). House of Gucci didn’t have an ensemble forged like this.
There is every other aspect to the coin that facilitates providing an explanation for why Freeman’s 2nd act of his profession will happen as a Dodger. And that, too, turned into obvious within the identical recreation. Matt Olson, the Braves’ younger alternative for Freeman at the start base, swatted 3 greater hits. He is off to the greatest start within the records of the Atlanta Braves franchise: a .566 OBP over his first fifty-three plate appearances.
Freeman, 32, and Olson, 28, maybe compared and contrasted for the subsequent six years, the length of Freeman’s settlement with the Dodgers. The Braves, upon trading for Olson from Oakland, gave Olson an 8-12 months contract worth $168 million. Because Freeman deferred $ fifty-seven million of his $162 million from the Dodgers, his contemporary cost is “most effective” approximately $one hundred forty-five million.
No, remember how the Freeman vs. Olson argument plays out, both sides wound up with a bargain. Atlanta lost a legacy participant, but they won a guy on the ascent who can be Freeman in his prime. Los Angeles was given a plug-and-play movie star who is back home in Southern California and not using regrets and, until now at least, is a better situational hitter than Olson.
“What I’ve found out about Freddie,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “is that he could be very unique about how he is going approximately his paintings and that he’s very emotional. I say that in a very superb manner. He cares approximately family and he cares approximately human beings. You can’t assist however see that proper away, and I think that’s why people are drawn to him.”
The emotional element turned into glaring earlier than the game while Freeman admitted to crying about four instances as he reunited with his former teammates—or how excited he grew while describing a postgame Easter egg hunt the Dodgers arranged on the sphere for players’ children after the sport Sunday.
Make no mistake, Freeman become hurt whilst the Braves sluggish-performed him once he reached unfastened organization. Freeman had become down a five-yr, $135 million provide from Atlanta across the All-Star break, a smidgen better than the $130 million extensions the Cardinals had given Paul Goldschmidt. No headway was paved earlier than the Dec. 2 lockout. If Freeman wanted top cost and to live with the Braves, it changed into no longer going to take place.
Chipper Jones, the previous Brave, would say he disagreed with the manner Freeman and his marketers allow a deal getaway. “If you want to play in Atlanta, you play in Atlanta,” Jones said.
