NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BRAVES VS DODGERS

October 15, 2021

Freddie Freeman

Truist Park

Atlanta Braves

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. Are you looking forward to this one? Did it matter who you played and are you now looking forward to another chance at the Dodgers?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: Yeah, you always want a rematch of last year. We were rooting for the Dodgers last night more for a personal reason, because now I get to watch him play baseball this weekend, he wasn't going to San Francisco with me, so now I get to see him for a couple days.

So my household was rooting for the Dodgers, but now you want to beat the best and they're obviously the defending champs and they got a great team, so it's going to be a good test for us.

Q. How much do you think the familiarity is going to play into it?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: It depends. We have seen Buehler, Urías, Gonsolin, Scherzer so much especially, especially with their relief corp in their lineup, so there's going to be no surprises. I think they're familiar with us, we're familiar with them, so I think it's just going to be another good series just like it was last year.

Q. What challenges does it present facing a Dodgers team that you're very familiar with?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: I don't think there's any added challenges, just up and down their rotation, their pitching staff their relievers, their lineup is just so good, you know, there's, it already comes with a big challenge facing that team. Maybe -- I think we heard Scherzer might be pitching Game 1, so maybe he might be a little tired from pitching yesterday, but, no, probably not, knowing Max.

But I don't think there's any added challenges. I think it's just two good teams going to be going at it and I really think it's going to come down to six, seven games again.

So you can stack up Scherzer, Urías, Buehler against Charlie, Max, and Ian and they might have more name recognition than our guys, but they're still, I think, even. So I think it's going to be kind of like the Brewers Series, it's not going to be a lot runs scored. I think it's going to be whoever gets that one big hit in that game that's going to change each and every game.

Q. A lot is made of the Dodgers' formidable bullpen which is really deep. How about how much your bullpen has rounded into shape down the stretch?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: Yeah, everyone knows their roles and I think that took shape in the last month, month and a half. I think Luke and Tyler might flip-flop defending who is coming up in the 7th or 8th inning, but you feel pretty comfortable and confident when that gate opens and you got Luke running in, Tyler, Will's been great. Watching Blake to pitch on TV is not fun and it's even more not fun facing him. So we got some guys that are nasty too, so I think it's just, I really think things are even, in my mind, with team against team. So I think it's really going to come down to that one big hit in each and every game. But our relievers have been great. Six innings, you still got to count on three guys to be perfect in the playoffs, that's a lot to ask for, and they have been doing it so far.

Q. With the little ones around your house I know 12:30 in the morning might be pretty late to be watching a game.

FREDDIE FREEMAN: Yeah, it was.

Q. Wondering if you stuck around to watch that game and when you saw Scherzer come in, what did you think?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: Well, I kind of figured he would, someone like that was coming into the game, because Jansen came in in the 8th and Treinen game in in the 7th. So I'm like is Kenley going two innings? And then they showed Max running up and I said, That's the guy. I don't think anybody else would want anybody else other than Max in that game. He's a bulldog, facing him for years. And he painted an up-and-away cutter and he just had some good stuff going and he's going to come back, I bet, tomorrow, and pitch against us and he's going to be Max Scherzer. So we're going to hopefully be familiar with what he has and get a couple runs off of him.

Q. We all know what was supposed to happen after the 2017 season. Would you have four consecutive Division titles and two consecutive times to the NLCS had Snit been gone?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: That's a tough question, I mean, I think everyone knows what was going on in 2017, but Snit, in my mind, deserves everything that's happening to him right now. We love that man and he loves us. The success that we've had is because of him. He is the same person every single day. And when you have to manage 25 and 26 personalities and sometimes 40, plus coaching staff, he's just the people's person.

So in our minds he is the perfect man for that job leading this team. Everyone's going to scrutinize the decision every day, that comes with the territory. But there's so much things that are outside those lines that he is the perfect man for this job and we love Snit in that room.

So I'm glad we're getting some success and he is deserving of every single award he gets, Manager of the Year a couple years ago, so this is, I'm just happy for him, I really am. This is -- nothing better can happen to this, so hopefully we can get to the World Series and win this thing for him.

Q. You've seen a lot of Trea Turner, he's done some damage to you guys, and now that he's there, just what does he bring to the group?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: Well I don't think the Dodgers even needed Trea Turner, to be honest, and they went and got him. I think he's lining up in the 3 spot for them and you're going Mookie, Corey and Trea and then coming back with Will Smith, Justin Turner. I mean, they didn't need Trea Turner, but they went and got him. And, I mean, their lineup, that team, him just making it, I'm glad he's getting the recognition because he's been one of the best shortstops in the league for the last few years. And we've unfortunately had to witness it 19 times a year and he seems to get about 35 to 40 hits against us it feels like and I'm glad he's over there now so we only have to face him six times next year. But he's just a really good player. If that ball's on the ground you better get going and he can create mistakes on the base paths, he can hit the ball out of the ballpark, he can play second for them, he's a really good shortstop, he's just a really good player and they're really good with him.

Q. Snit talked a couple days ago about what his relationship with Bobby has been like these last few years and I was wondering what your relationship has been with Bobby since the stroke?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: Yeah, I haven't seen Bobby, the most I've seen him when he came to a game or two and sat in a suite and I haven't really seen much of him at all, but Snit always tells me when he goes and visits with him. Bobby and I had a really good relationship going forward in the back, until he had his stroke, we haven't seen much of him, but we get the updates from Snit and we hear he's doing pretty well. So we know he's watching every game and sure he has his cleats on and he's managing right there on TV, so we know we got a good one watching us.

Q. Speaking of Snit and how much you guys love him, the loyalty that he shows to you guys, especially thinking Will Smith this year, he could have caved, and a lot of us were saying he needed to switch closers, he didn't. Does that surprise you at all and does that say a lot about Snit and the loyalty he has for his players?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: It didn't surprise us at all that he wasn't going to change. We have a lot of confidence in Will Smith. It's a 162-game season, you can't manage over two weeks of a season. If I go 1-20 are you going to bench me for a week? That's what happens during a season and that's why you can't have quick hook sometimes. You got to let things play out, run its course, and Snit did that and look at Will now. So that's the difference between being in that office -- you know how hard it is to do that and you got to manage people and we have all the confidence in Will, we just knew that he would get it figured out. He had like a 3-6, but he was striking out 80, 85 guys over 60 innings, he still had great stuff, so, I mean, I thought I heard his dad say he was giving me heart attacks or something like that a couple days ago. So, but as long as he gets three outs and gets the save, we don't care how it happens.

Q. We talked with Max about just this process of this season as opposed to last year and the protocols and everything and just how much better was it to be able to actually have the off days, be able to go out and do different things and actually be able to have the mindset of it's one of 162 and not one of 60 plus?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: Yeah, that was nice. I mean, obviously, at the beginning we were still having some protocols we had to deal with until we got the 85 percent vaccinated and we got that pretty early on, so that was nice. It's nice to see you guys, not having -- to see you guys in person again, not just on Zooms, you guys can tell a little bit more of a better story when we can see you guys in person. So it's been nice, it's been nice to be able to go to a restaurant and de-stress and not kind of think about things. And a 60-game season it was a sprint, you couldn't, one, you had to get going real fast. Luckily, we didn't have a 60-game season this year or we wouldn't be talking to you guys right now in mid October. So we're glad it was 162 this year, but it's been nice that things are getting a little bit back to normal as the season went on.

Q. Going off of that, just how nice is it to have home field advantage for this NLCS and how big is that?

FREDDIE FREEMAN: Yeah, that's huge. Having Game 1 in front of our fans on a weekend, we saw how they came out on 1 o'clock on a Monday now we're going to get them on a Saturday night, so it's going to be so exciting. It's been two years for a lot of -- we didn't get to play the NLCS in front of them last year, so now we can do that and it's going to be rocking. We can't wait. It's going to be a lot of fun and I'm glad Game 1's in front of them.