As the Game 1 final whistle blew at Rogers Centre, Freddie Freeman looked up silently at the 4-11 scoreboard. He was one of the last to leave the field, walking slowly, head down, as if he were carrying the entire Dodgers season on his shoulders. It was a night when everything went wrong—the bullpen collapsed, Ohtani was mocked, and Freeman himself couldn’t make a difference.
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Yet, in the midst of that dark moment, something small melted away the fatigue.
A Dodgers media person recalled:
“Freddie was sitting in the corner, looking at his phone. Then he suddenly burst out laughing, then he lowered his head, tears streaming down his face. No one dared to ask, but then he held up the screen and said, ‘He texted me…’.”
On the screen was a message from his son, written in a childish voice, interspersed with adorable spelling mistakes:
“Dad, I’m not sick anymore 😷 I saw you sad on TV 😢 but don’t be discouraged. Hit hard like I said yesterday 💪 I believe you’ll win, I love you so much ❤️.”
Just a few simple lines, but enough to silence the entire locker room. A Dodgers player whispered:
“We saw something that money or trophies can’t buy – a father getting strength from his son.”
Freeman then briefly shared:
“I think I needed to hear that. Sometimes you forget that there’s someone watching over you, believing in you, even when the whole world is against you.”
The story quickly spread across social media. Tens of thousands of fans left comments:
“No MVP, just this moment – this is why we love baseball.”
“That kid is the fire of the Dodgers.”
One user wrote:
“Freeman lost the game, but as a father, he won.”
According to ESPN Los Angeles, Freeman’s son recently recovered from a long illness that forced him to miss several Dodgers community events. Although still weak, the boy still begged his mother to let him watch the World Series on TV to “cheer him on.” When the Dodgers lost, the boy was in tears, then took out his phone and wrote the message himself – no one helped, no one edited.
And it was that naivety that moved the world.
The Dodgers assistant coach recounted:
“Freddie didn’t say anything else, just said: ‘I’ll hit for him. Game 2 will be different.’”
The comment spread quickly throughout the locker room. The teammates smiled, the heavy atmosphere was dispelled. Perhaps the greatest strength came not from the cheers in the stands, but from the innocent words in a text message from a child at home.
In a world where pressure, fame and criticism can make anyone fall, sometimes all it takes is a small voice to remind:
“Dad, I believe in you.”
Game 1 may have ended, but the Dodgers – and especially Freddie Freeman – have found the most precious thing: faith.
And like that lovely message, Dodgers fans are reciting together before Game 2:
“Dad, let’s win together!”
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