Freddie Freeman took Braves heartfelt gesture and playoff hopes back to LA with him

After Monday night's loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Atlanta Braves fell out of the National League playoff race thanks to the New York Mets extra innings win over the Washington Nationals.

What started as a promising series against former Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman quickly turned into a nightmare for Atlanta, with questionable Brian Snitker decision-making and a Freeman home run on Monday to put the game out of reach. Rarely does a four-game split feel so defeating, but the Braves must go back to the drawing board.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work onThe Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop between now and the MLB offseason.

Freddie Freeman used hero status in Atlanta to his advantage

Freeman will forever be a hero in Atlanta, and could eventually get his number retired by the Braves down the line. He did win a World Series with the Braves, after all, and was a franchise icon many thought would be their next version of Chipper Jones -- that is, until Freeman left for sunny Los Angeles in the 2021-22 offseason.

By now we've all heard that story plenty of times. Freeman never wanted to leave Atlanta, but his agent and Alex Anthopoulos couldn't agree on a price point. So, Freeman called the Braves bluff and signed with one of their biggest rivals on a long-term deal. Loyalty in sports is dead.

Braves heartfelt gesture for Freddie Freeman couldn't earn them a series win

Prior to the start of the series, the Braves made a donation to the GBS|CIDP Foundation in honor of Freeman's son Max, who was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome in an emergency health incident earlier this year. While that was a heartfelt gesture, there were still games left to be played. Freeman took the Braves check and perhaps their playoff hopes back to LA with him following a critical home run on Monday night.

“That was big,” Freeman said. “When you start off a four-game set in a series like this toward the end of the year and you want to play well, to lose the first two and especially the second one in that fashion, to come back and respond these last two games, I thought that was big by our team.”

Freeman knows how capable the Braves are when healthy, so keeping Atlanta out of the postseason picture while also getting a shot in at his old bosses has to feel a little good, even if the so-called bad blood between the two sides never really boiled over.