Freeman's weekend: NLCS and Little League

ATLANTA -- Although the Dodgers have long been one of the National League’s most formidable teams, Freddie Freeman was rooting for them to advance to the NL Championship Series for a highly personal reason. Freeman’s Braves held home-field advantage over the Dodgers, meaning they hosted NLCS Game 2 on Sunday.

This meant Freeman could attend his son’s Little League game.

“Now,” Freeman said before the NLCS began, “I get to watch him play baseball this weekend.”

As promised, the Braves posted a video to Twitter on Sunday of Charlie Freeman -- a right-handed hitter, unlike his dad -- crushing a home run to center field. Wearing his father’s familiar No. 5 on the back of his jersey, Charlie raced around the bases, returned to the dugout and greeted Dad with a high five.

So increased the cuteness quotient for both Charlie and Freddie, who have long inspired each other to baseball greatness. Earlier this season, as he waded through a slump, Charlie encouraged Freddie to pick up the pace so that the family could attend the All-Star Game. (Charlie’s motivation was so that he could meet his favorite player -- not his dad, but Fernando Tatis Jr.)

Sure enough, Freeman went on a tear from mid-May through the break to make the NL roster.

Three months later, with Dad in attendance thanks to an assist from the Dodgers, Charlie returned the favor with a Little League homer.

“He wasn’t going to San Francisco with me, so now I get to see him for a couple days,” Freddie said. “So my household was rooting for the Dodgers. But now you want to beat the best, and they’re obviously the defending champs and they’ve got a great team, so it’s going to be a good test for us.”