PHILADELPHIA — It was more difficult than he thought it might be, but Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman started all 162 games and broke Andruw Jones' franchise record for innings played in a season.
Freeman led the major leagues with 1,440 innings played before Sunday and needed 7 2/3 innings to break Jones’ record set in 1999.
“Let’s hope I don’t get kicked out,” he said Sunday morning before the Braves’ season finale against the Phillies.
He played the entire game, had an RBI single in the 2-1 win, and finished with 1,449 innings. Freeman only came out of three games all season, once for injury after seven innings, once after being ejected in the sixth inning, and in the ninth inning of a game last week.
“It’s an accomplishment personally,” he said after Sunday’s game. “I’ve always wanted to do that and never been able to have a chance, and to stay healthy all year and be able to grind out 162 games is definitely a nice little reward at the end of the season.”
Freeman and Giants outfielder Hunter Pence were the only National League players to start all of their teams’ games this season. Freeman came away with even more respect and awe over Cal Ripken’s seemingly unapproachable major league-record streak of 2,632 consecutive games played over 16 seasons with the Orioles.
“It’s an absolute grind,” Freeman said of playing every game. “I’m mentally drained. Playing 162 games, it’s a lot. I don’t know how Cal Ripken did that. It’s crazy. It’s definitely mentally draining. The thing I’m going to learn from this year is, some days you just do need a mental break from baseball, knowing that there is a game but you don’t have to mentally prepare for it. That’s the big thing.
“Especially with the season that we had, it’s even more of a mental drain trying to do everything you possibly could to scratch out a win during the season. So it’s been a learning year for me, personally. I’m just looking forward to next year, getting that going so we can start playing meaningful games.”
