Freddie Freeman stepped up to support his new Los Angeles Dodgers teammate Tarik Skubal after the pitcher’s recent comments stirred frustration among some fans.
The Dodgers acquired Skubal from the Detroit Tigers just over a week ago in a major trade. Shortly after his first start with his new club, Skubal appeared on Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take” and spoke openly about leaving Detroit.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner made clear that he still holds strong feelings for the organization that drafted and developed him.
“I would love to play my whole career in Detroit,” Skubal said. “I would love to. And hopefully those negotiations pick back up in November once the playoffs are done. And we’ll see where that goes. Hopefully they’re involved with everything; I would love to return. I’ve got nothing but good things to say about the City of Detroit and the manager, the coaching, the staff, the trainers, the teammates; it’s tough. And I’m going to try not to cry right now, but I love all those guys. So hopefully they’re involved in November and we’ll see what happens then.”
Those remarks did not land well with every Dodgers supporter. Fans who had just watched their team land one of baseball’s top pitchers were unsettled by Skubal’s public hope of returning to Detroit this offseason, when he is set to become a free agent.
Freddie Freeman, who spent the majority of his career with the Atlanta Braves before joining the Dodgers, understood the emotions involved.
According to reports, Freeman pushed back against the criticism directed at Skubal.
“You’re not just gonna flip a switch and be, like, ‘Oh, I’m great,’” Freeman said. “You have all these friends, all these people you came up with in the minor leagues that are now with you as teammates. You had 15-hour bus rides together. You’re doing all these things together. The organization invested in you. You invested in them. You can do everything you can to win a World Series, and it doesn’t happen, and then you get traded. So, you’re going to have emotions.”
Freeman’s words carried extra weight because he has lived through a similar transition. After years of building relationships and competing for a championship in Atlanta, he found himself traded and adapting to a new clubhouse.
His defense of Skubal framed the pitcher’s comments not as disloyalty but as a natural human response to leaving a place that shaped his career.
The episode highlights the complicated reality of modern baseball. Trades and free agency move players from one city to another with little warning, yet the personal bonds formed over years do not disappear overnight.
Skubal is now focused on helping the Dodgers win in the present, while Freeman’s support may help ease the transition for a pitcher still processing a sudden change.
