Freddie Freeman is flip-flopping on his Dodgers tenure (again) after early season claims

If you're a Los Angeles Dodgers fan attempting to estimate how much longer Freddie Freeman will be playing, you've been sent for a whirlwind every time Freeman has opened his mouth on the topic in recent months.

At times humbly admitting that Father Time could come sooner than expected, and at other times pointing out that age is just a number, Freeman has made a habit of oscillating between opinions about his own longevity.

That being said, Freeman has expressed through it all that the plan is to play for three more seasons past 2026, even if his heart and/or mind tend to want to stray from that plan from time to time. One of those occasions came recently.

Freddie Freeman admits that his love for his family is pulling him away from MLB baseball

In a new conversation with The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, Freeman expressed some doubts about whether he'll remain in the game long enough to tally the 500-plus hits he still needs to reach 3,000.

For Freeman, thoughts of his family are beginning to seriously pull him away from the game, especially after the Freemans welcomed their first daughter (and fourth child) on April 19.

Freeman, 36, told Rosenthal that while his plan to play three more seasons hasn't changed, he's beginning to feel the heaviness of regret that comes with being on the road for so many weeks a year away from his children, an emotional development that Freeman said he has openly shared with his wife, Chelsea.

“When I’m sitting in a hotel room by myself at night after a game, I’m just like, ‘Oh man, what am I doing?’" Freeman told Rosenthal.

Freddie Freeman is still a dangerous hitter for the Dodgers

Part of the reason Freeman is still drawn to pro baseball is his sheer love for the game, but it's also the fact that Freeman is still a really, really good hitter. We've seen his clutch heroics in the World Series for the Dodgers, but while Freddie's regular-season production has declined somewhat in his mid-thirties, you wouldn't know it if you'd been watching him recently.

He has a 1.213 OPS over his last seven games and a 1.026 OPS over his last 15. He's tallied seven home runs this season in 199 at-bats, holding a .271 batting average and .830 OPS on the season for LA.

Freeman's inner world is clearly pulling him in different directions when it comes to his MLB career from here on out. He's drawn intensely to his family and to the game he loves. And if Freeman were no longer an effective MLB player, Freeman's decision would already have been made long ago. But as long as he keeps raking and factors into LA's championship aspirations as an enduring threat in the batter's box, it'll be tough for him to walk away.

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