How to watch the Dodgers at Braves series as Freddie Freeman returns to Atlanta on national TV
Freddie Freeman, the Brave (Major League Baseball, not 'Lord of the Rings'), earned his spot as a franchise icon. He won an MVP and a championship ring down in Atlanta, with Silver Sluggers and a Gold Glove dotting his dozen years of service. Freddie Freeman, the Dodger, is on his way to similar recognition — the California native authored an all-time-cool World Series moment that can still be heard from Elysian Park, and as of this writing, he's a career .315 hitter in LA.
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The 35-year-old Freeman returns to face the franchise that drafted him in 2007. It's a special matchup between two of the sport's recent champions. Accordingly, all three weekend games between the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers will receive national broadcasts, with the finale closing out the series on 'Sunday Night Baseball.'
By wins above replacement, Freeman is the sixth-best position player in Braves history, which dates back to 1876. He's having a great 2025, too, entering the series with a .319/.407.638 slash line. In most lineups, Freeman would be the bat for opposing arms to pitch around and for managers to account for. In this loaded Dodgers lineup, he's just another occupational hazard.
Teoscar Hernández is tied for the second-most home runs in the National League so far (9), and he's tied for the lead in all of baseball in runs batted in (32). Shohei Ohtani is the sport's top run-scorer (32), and he's coming into Friday with a steal in three consecutive games (of course). Elsewhere, Mookie Betts and Tommy Edman have cleanup-worthy barrels, while Will Smith is looking like a Silver Slugger catcher. Just for fun, Andy Pages might be coming around in his age-24 season. Sheesh.
The Braves have big bats of their own, of course. Atlanta has gone 14-9 since its disastrous 0-7 start, and took just three total Ls in its last four series (home for Twins and Cardinals, on the road at Diamondbacks and Rockies). The hosts can match Will Smith with Sean Murphy, the catcher with a team-best seven homers in only 60 at-bats. Matt Olson and Ozzie Albies command respect in the middle of the order. Austin Riley's washout 2024 looks exorcised. Marcel Ozuna finds his way to first (.437 OBP, with the most walks drawn in MLB).
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All six probable starters are right-handers. Atlanta gives Grant Holmes the opening MLB Network game, going against LA's dominant Yoshinobu Yamamoto (3-2, league-best 1.06 ERA). His stuff is ridiculous and precise. As The Athletic's Fabian Ardaya says, 'there are 325 million reasons to treat Yoshinobu Yamamoto's weekly main event as must-see viewing.'
The second matchup, broadcast on Fox, has particularly cool probables. RHPs Roki Sasaki (age 23) and Spencer Schwellenbach (24) are two young talents with drastically different journeys to Saturday's mound. ESPN's Sunday game under the lights re-ups that theme music we're all still nostalgic about. It's fair to expect fireworks in that finale, as both big-name lineups get early strugglers in Dustin May and Bryce Elder.
Most wins in both jerseys: Greg Maddux (194 ATL, 8 LAD)
Betting/odds, ticketing and streaming links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
(Photo of Freddie Freeman: Ron Jenkins / Getty Images)
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Indianapolis Star
31 minutes ago
- Indianapolis Star
'One of best weeks of my life.' Putting a bow on Indiana All-Stars, 2025 graduating class
The completion of the Indiana All-Stars series against Kentucky is always a little emotional, maybe more for the parents than the players. Literally a day later for many of the All-Stars, they check in at their colleges and officially close the door on their high school experience. Lives change. Parents say goodbye, knowing it will never quite be the same as it was those first 18 years — no matter how far away their sons or daughters are going away to college. I was reminded of that fact Saturday after the Indiana All-Stars' team defeated Kentucky 105-92 to sweep the boys from the Bluegrass state for the 19th time in the past 26 years of the series that dates to 1940 (not counting the cancelled year of 2020). There were plenty of hugs and smiles and then … poof … they were gone. Time marches on. Maybe I'm a little more emotional and connected to this 2025 class because I have a graduate of my own in this class. It feels like I have been watching and covering players like Braylon Mullins, Mark Zackery IV, Dezmon Briscoe, Azavier Robinson, Julius Gizzi, Justin Kirby and Brady Koehler for a long time. It will be fun to see what they accomplish at the next level in college and beyond. For Mullins, Greenfield-Central's first IndyStar Mr. Basketball, it is off to UConn, where he will get caught up quickly with the rest of the incoming recruits, who are already on campus. He will move in Monday and get to work — really get to work — Tuesday. 'I've just been going through watching the film and watching what I need to so I can get caught up to speed,' said Mullins, who finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals to earn MVP honors in Saturday's game. 'It's way different than I expected. I'm going to be in the best shape of my life by week two. But I'm excited for it. It's an experience I can't take for granted.' Ben Davis' Zackery, this year's Mr. Football, played his best game of the week for the All-Stars on Saturday, going for 10 points (2-for-4 from the 3-point line) with six assists and five rebounds. The crazy thing about Zackery is how little basketball he's played in the past several months after getting surgery on his thumb from a football injury and missing almost the entire season. I know his future is in football at Notre Dame, but I will always wonder what he might have been if he played just basketball. His quickness and wing-span alone would put him at an elite level. There were a few times this weekend when he just hit the accelerate button and Kentucky could not stay in front of him. 'He's one of the smartest people on the floor,' Mullins said of Zackery. 'You won't see anybody quicker, faster or smarter. He does a lot of things good for our team. He's a very unselfish player. I can believe he's really good at basketball on top of that, a really good football player. He would do really well on both sports if he wanted to do that.' I thought it was cool Zackery and Lawrence North grad Azavier Robinson, named the Wooden-MCL Citizenship award winner, were roommates. Imagine putting those two in the same backcourt together, especially on defense. Though Zackery called it his 'last basketball game ever,' All-Stars coach Marc Urban of Chesterton said he was more than happy to have him on the team. 'He's one of the most elite people I've ever been around,' Urban said. 'Being able to observe him from our first practice, through this whole week, the way he carries himself and how hard he goes, he is elite. He's super dialed in, super focused, super mature. He led us in a lot of ways. He just stayed focused throughout and was fun to be around. I feel very lucky to be around him for this week.' I think that is a pretty typical feeling after the All-Stars experience. There will always be a few outliers (often related to playing time) or behavior issues during the week. But Urban said the experience was even more fulfilling than he imagined. 'Honestly, it's been one of the best weeks of my life,' Urban said. '(All-Stars director Mike Broughton) and my assistants (Steve Cox, Chris Hawkins and Jason Speer) were really fun to be around. It was super fun. It was hard, it was challenging, but it was very rewarding. I feel very lucky and very blessed to have the opportunity to do it.' ∎ It was odd to leave Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday night knowing I would be back in four days to help cover Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers. There were reminders, though, including the 'Finals' logo and backdrop already in the press conference room. Basketball in June is better than Christmas. ∎ How good is 6-8 Tre Singleton going to be at Northwestern? The Jeffersonville star and Class 4A state champion had 14 points and four rebounds in Friday's 98-89 win at Kentucky, going up against 7-1 Kentucky Mr. Basketball Malachi Moreno. In Saturday's win, Singleton had 12 points on 6-for-8 shooting and six rebounds in just 15 minutes. I think Singleton and fellow Jeffersonville teammate and Indiana All-Star Michael Cooper (Wright State) are going to be really good players at the next level. Cooper was 8-for-13 from the 3-point line in the two games combined. ∎ Attendance for Saturday's game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse was announced at 5,411. The competition took a hit by Moreno's absence in the return game. Kentucky's team had some good players, but not enough to play 40 minutes head-to-head with Indiana without Moreno. ∎ Mt. Vernon point guard Luke Ertel continues to ascend. Nothing he did for the Junior All-Stars during the week will change that thought. The Purdue recruit backed up his 36-point game on Sunday against the Kentucky Junior All-Stars with 35 points, nine rebounds and four assists in the win over the Indiana All-Stars on Wednesday. Another Matt Painter recruiting victory. ∎ Fishers' Justin Kirby is ridiculously athletic. Alley-oops from Brady Koehler on back-to-back possessions in the second half — the second on a bounce pass — were big highlights from Saturday's win. Kirby finished with 11 points and four rebounds after going for nine points and four rebounds in the win at Kentucky on Friday. 'It was like a college experience,' Kirby said of All-Stars week. 'The way you do things, the way you carry yourself throughout the week. It's a lot. It's a lot of three- and four-hour practices you have to go through, but you have to get ready for that for next year in college. I think it was good for me to have that experience.' Kirby's next few years will be interesting. 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Fox Sports
34 minutes ago
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Braves take road losing streak into matchup with the Brewers
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Associated Press
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Braves take road losing streak into matchup with the Brewers
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