SEATTLE — Freddie Freeman didn’t know he’d be the one walking to the mound to take the ball from Clayton Kershaw. Dave Roberts made it an impromptu decision in the sixth inning, and Freeman stepped into a moment that instantly joined the franchise’s highlight reel. After the Dodgers finished a 6–1 win in Seattle to close the regular season, he tried to explain what it felt like. “Yeah, I mean, just kind of in the last few innings soaking in the career that Clayton’s had and for Doc to let me be a part of it in that moment,” Freeman said. “Those are the ones that will choke you up as you as you think about things that you were able to do in in your baseball career.”
For Freeman, the symbolism landed as hard as any home run. “To be able to take, in my opinion, the greatest pitcher of our generation out of his last regular season start,” he said, “I think that can might be up there as one of my favorite baseball m moments that I’ve had.” Kershaw’s day (five and a third scoreless, ending with a strikeout) made the whole tableau feel authored. “For him to do what he did today, five and a third, end it with a strikeout, just very very fitting for uh for Clayton and happy to be a part of it.”
If the mound visit was about honoring a friend, the innings leading up to it were about doing a job. Freeman said the team’s plan was simple: keep playing the brand of baseball they’d rediscovered down the stretch and make sure Kershaw had room to breathe. “Yeah, I think it was more of just keep playing the good baseball we’ve been playing,” he said. “I mean, the last four or five games been more what we envisioned ourselves all season. Hopefully, we we’re starting to click at the right time. Bullpen looked great the last couple days. Offensively looking really really good heading in. Obviously, our starting pitching the last month has been incredible. So, overall just a very, very good end to our season and we’ll get get our work in tomorrow and get ready for the Reds on Tuesday.”
On the in-game exchange itself, Freeman kept it light, at least at first. “Did you say anything out there?” a reporter asked. Freeman smiled. “Uh, yeah. I said I wanted the ball and he said no, which I understood,” he said, a reminder that even in ceremony there are boundaries. The sincerity came next: “But no, I just told him I loved him and I I just said thank you and, you know, let him have his moment. What he’s done on this baseball field, he’s left everything out there on that mound. 18 years, it’s been incredible. So all you can really do is just hug him and tell him what you what he means to all of us.”
Freeman’s comments framed the afternoon as both a farewell and a runway. The Dodgers didn’t stage a nostalgia tour; they banked a complete, professional win and left with their rotation aligned, their bullpen pulsing with strikeouts, and their stars carrying thunder into October. His emphasis on the past four or five games matched what the box scores showed: cleaner defense, grind-at-bats, and quick, decisive innings from the staff.
There’s also the matter of leadership tone, and Freeman’s did what it usually does—turn sentiment into purpose. He lingered on the gratitude of the sixth-inning handoff, then pivoted to work. The off day won’t be a victory lap; it’s a tune-up. “We’ll get our work in tomorrow and get ready for the Reds on Tuesday,” he said, no extra adjectives needed. The time, place, and stakes are set: Tuesday, 6:00 p.m. at Dodger Stadium, with Cincinnati bringing youth, speed, and a short-series mentality.
Freeman’s role in that is as steady as his heartbeat. He doesn’t do bombast; he does presence. On Sunday, presence meant walking to the mound, looking Kershaw in the eye, and creating space for a legend’s ovation. Two days from now, it will mean first-inning swing decisions, situational baserunning, and the quiet insistence that the Dodgers play to their identity from pitch one.
In the end, his own words are the best epilogue to a regular season that closed on exactly the note Los Angeles wanted: “Hopefully we we’re starting to click at the right time… offensively looking really really good heading in… starting pitching… incredible… a very, very good end to our season.” And about that visit to the hill: “I just told him I loved him and I I just said thank you… all you can really do is just hug him and tell him what you what he means.” The hug is in the books. October is on deck.
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