ATLANTA — Brian Snitker had a good view from the dugout, but his mind had taken him somewhere else, and the moving pictures took a minute to process. A million manager-type things were rolling through his cranium. His bench was depleted, his bullpen was running through relievers, the score was tied, the Braves’ first two batters in the eighth inning had struck out against arguably the game’s best closer and … wait, did that just happen, what he thinks his eyes just saw? Is there a way to push replay?
“I was looking, and he hit it, and I was watching the ball,” Snitker said. “And I was like, ‘My God, he got it.’ I was distracted and …
“It was like, you couldn’t script this any better. Freddie Freeman hit a go-ahead homer against probably the best closer in the game. That’s Freddie.”
Yeah, that happened. Yeah, that’s Freddie.
Is Liberty Media watching? Because I’m not sure what more a team’s owner needs to see before sliding a contract with so many fat numbers across that table that it screams, “Sign me, now!”
In a season of abnormalities, something perfect happened. Freddie Freeman, the player who in 2020 rose from COVID-19 and a desperate plea to his Higher Power, “Please don’t take me,” and wound up with an NL MVP award and taking his team to within one win of going to the World Series, is doing it again. The franchise centerpiece led the team to a fourth straight postseason appearance despite the loss of the key offensive players ahead (Ronald Acuña Jr.) and behind (
