Press enter or click to view image in full sizeMookie Betts and Freddie Freeman are playing in the postseason for the fourth time together as Dodgers. (Carrie Giordano/Los Angeles Dodgers)
by Cary Osborne
Then Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts was 23 years old and sharing the same field with future Hall of Famer David Ortiz.
Then Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman was 23 years old and sharing the same field with future Hall of Famer Chipper Jones.
Both Betts and Freeman were establishing themselves as two of the young stars in Major League Baseball. And both were in the postseason for the first time.
For Freeman, now 36, it was a brand new world.
“I could tell you, the first postseason game I ever had, my knees were shaking going in,” Freeman said.
As it was for Betts, now 33.
“I remember the first time when you’re going (to the postseason), you’re just excited to be in the postseason,” Betts remembers. “You don’t know how long it’s going to last. You don’t really have any expectations. You’re there and you want to win, but you don’t really know what it takes.”
Not the case anymore.
Betts is a three-time World Series champion, playing in his ninth postseason. Freeman is a two-time World Series champion, playing in his 10th postseason. Beyond the numbers is the influence they have on others and the ability to slow down the highest pressure games.
There have been failures in the past, but more often than not, they have an elite ability to make an October game feel like one in July. Their experience and other intangibles are reasons the Dodgers feel comfort going into Friday’s World Series Game 1 in Toronto.
“First off, they’re two of the highest character people you’ll ever come across, and they’re both great teammates,” said manager Dave Roberts. “They’re both very good workers. They both value the little things in the game. And so it’s just hard not to follow the path of those two players. And then you layer on the experience of the postseason, to be able to manage your heartbeat and be the guy in the right spots. I’m very fortunate to have those two players on our roster. They make my job a lot easier.”