Nothing fazes Freddie Freeman at this juncture of his illustrious career. Not even a trip to his old stomping grounds of Truist Park on Tuesday in Game 3 of the Los Angeles Dodgers' NLDS clash against the Atlanta Braves can knock him off his rhythm. Heck, not even facing Chris Sale, the Braves' ace who pitched a complete-game shutout during his most recent start against the Dodgers, can put fear into his heart.

With the Dodgers already having taken the lead in the top of the fourth inning courtesy of a two-run shot from Kike Hernandez, Freeman followed that up with a two-out solo shot off of Sale to pad LA's lead in an eventual 3-1 win to take a 2-1 series lead. Never mind the fact that Freeman posted a worse OPS against lefties (.680) than against righties (.850) in 2026. When the calendar flips to October, Freeman steps up — regardless of the handedness of the pitching he faces.

In fact, Freeman now has the most lefty-on-lefty home runs in MLB playoff history with eight, as per MLB Network on X. Of his 18 career postseason long balls, nearly half has come against same-sided pitching, which is a testament to how the Dodgers veteran locks in when the lights are at their brightest.

As if hitting a home run in October isn't already hard enough, doing so against Sale is quite remarkable. Nonetheless, the Braves ace, in 39.2 innings against lefties this year, allowed a worse OPS to them (.595) than to righties (.570).

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At the end of the day, the Dodgers can almost always rely on Freeman to pitch in come playoff time. The 37-year-old is heating up at the right time as well, as he has now hit a long ball in two consecutive games.

Freeman did say after Game 2 that the Dodgers need to be able to put runs on the board even without hitting home runs. But if this formula is working, then there's no need to mess with it.