TORONTO \u2014 Before the wild celebration to punctuate last year\u2019s World Series, Freddie Freeman found himself waiting in the visiting manager\u2019s office at Rogers Centre. Though the Los Angeles Dodgers\u2019 bacchanal was set to begin, Freeman first needed to bestow something important upon its rightful owner.<\/p>\n
He had fielded Mookie Betts\u2019 throw on the final out of a seemingly endless Game 7. As his teammates emptied their lungs for the team\u2019s third title in six seasons, Freeman stashed away the baseball, the same one he would later present to manager Dave Roberts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just blew me away,\u201d Roberts told The Athletic on Monday, when he was back in the visiting manager\u2019s office in Toronto for the first time since that night. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the biggest honors I\u2019ve ever received.\u201d<\/p>\n
It never really belonged anywhere else, Freeman explained after the Dodgers\u2019 14-2 victory over the Blue Jays that bore no resemblance to the dramatic Game 7 here last fall.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the head,\u201d Freeman told The Athletic, speaking of Roberts. \u201cHe makes everything stay calm, stay smooth, run on the right tracks around here. I feel like he deserves it. When we win a championship, he\u2019s the man that runs the show, and I feel he deserves the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course Freeman was at the center of things. He has served as one of his manager\u2019s most trusted voices during this golden era. The two have become unmistakably close. Still, early last November, when Roberts returned to the visiting office at the Rogers Centre some 20 minutes after the Dodgers\u2019 title-clinching 5-4 victory in 11 innings, he wasn\u2019t expecting Freeman to be in there.<\/p>\n
But Freeman is well-rehearsed when it comes to World Series endings. He knew the drill. When Freeman\u2019s Atlanta Braves toppled the Houston Astros in 2021, he presented manager Brian Snitker with the baseball. When the 2024 World Series ended with a Walker Buehler strikeout of the New York Yankees\u2019 Alex Verdugo, catcher Will Smith kept the ball; Buehler and Smith put it up for auction, fetching $414,000 for victims of the wildfires in Los Angeles earlier that year.<\/p>\n
And this time, Freeman caught Betts\u2019 throw to secure back-to-back titles and knew it belonged in Roberts\u2019 trophy case, not his.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be the head of an organization, the face of it,\u201d he said, \u201canswering questions when things aren\u2019t going right, and he does it with class. We obviously love him and trust him. I feel like when you win a championship, to have that last out ball, it should be in the manager\u2019s hands.\u201d<\/p>\n