The love affair between Freddie Freeman and Atlanta Braves fans — one that survived him leaving for the Los Angeles Dodgers in free agency nearly five years ago now — was already showing signs of fraying as Freeman faced his former team for the first time in the postseason. After years of cheers at Truist Park, the star first baseman actually got a mixed reception ahead of Game 3 of the NLDS; funny how standing in the way of your favorite team's path to a World Series can change hearts and minds.
And if that didn't do the trick, Freeman going yard off of Chris Sale as part of a three-run Dodgers fourth inning certainly did.
FREDDIE FREEMAN CONNECTS! pic.twitter.com/Ccb9bVe8QJ
— MLB (@MLB) October 6, 2026
Freddie Freeman's NLDS Game 3 homer is a stab in the heart to Braves fans
Sentiment in Atlanta was already starting to turn against Freeman. The farther away his free agency saga gets, the less people remember just why he left town in the first place and the more they focus on the fact that he plays for the two-time defending champs — and the Braves' chief rival for NL supremacy. Finally meeting his former team in the playoffs just heightened those contradictions even further.
Braves fans have grown accustomed to Freeman as a rival rather than a face of the franchise, of course. There's something very different about the stakes of October, though, just like there's something very different about Freeman launching a homer — off of Atlanta's beloved ace, no less — and adding to his considerable October legacy at your expense. It might have been technically true for years, but it finally feels that way: Freddie is the enemy.
It doesn't have to be that way forever. The Braves are still the team that drafted him, the team for whom he won his only NL MVP and his first World Series title and played the majority of his future Hall of Fame career. Then again, every passing year and every postseason homer in a Los Angeles uniform drives him further and further away from Atlanta, until at a certain point, his legacy is suddenly up for grabs.
Would Freddie Freeman consider going into the Hall of Fame as a Dodger?
It's easy to scoff at the very notion of the question. Freeman spent 12 years in Atlanta and is just wrapping up his fifth year with the Dodgers. That's a huge gap, to state the obvious, and even beyond the statistical advantage, he also has both a ring and an MVP with the Braves.
Then again, the top line of his baseball resume is virtually guaranteed to be his walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series. If the Dodgers are able to pull off a three-peat, that immediately thrusts him into the inner circle of playoff performers. And need we remind everybody that he's a California kid at heart, one for whom playing for the Dodgers is obviously meaningful.
Cooperstown tends to give a pretty wide berth to players' wishes when they enter the Hall. Which will Freeman choose? And if he tries to split the difference and go in without a logo, will that sting Braves fans all the same? Time heals a lot of wounds, but it doesn't seem as though Freeman actually has all that many regrets about winding up in Los Angeles. Braves fans have been awfully forgiving, but nothing breaks a spell like getting slapped in the face.
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