by Mark Langill
Infielders Freddie Freeman and Miguel Rojas may share the same age for the next few weeks, but the World Series heroes looked ahead to the 2026 season with different lenses during DodgerFest on Saturday at Dodger Stadium.
Rojas, who turns 37 on Feb. 24, has announced this will be his final Major League season, already planning his transition to his next baseball life.
Freeman, 36, admits there are a few more items on his baseball bucket list, including 3,000 hits and 1,000 extra-base hits.
And, of course, more parades.
An intimate setting of 150 fans inside the Stadium Club on Saturday during a 30-minute program provided a lively and wide-ranging stream of memories as the players sat on director’s chairs alongside moderator and broadcaster Stephen Nelson.
Freeman and Rojas alternated between jokes and compliments for one another.
Freeman called Rojas, a 12-year veteran in his second tenure with the Dodgers, an inspiration, as reflected by his own “repeat” in 2025. Rojas received a second consecutive Roy Campanella Award by a vote of his teammates.
Rojas predicts Freeman, 36, is on track to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Freeman enters the 2026 season with 2,431 career hits and 947 extra-base hits (367 home runs, 547 doubles, 33 triples).
“When you first get into the game, you don’t think about numbers,” Freeman said. “You think about winning championships. The number is, ‘How many championships can you win?’ As you get to play a long time, the talk has been coming on numbers and hitting certain things.”
During pitcher Clayton Kershaw’s quest for 3,000 career strikeouts in 2025, the left-hander said Freeman was always quick to point out how many more were needed. Now, it’s Freeman’s turn to hear about a 3,000 milestone.
Freeman has a .300 average in 2,179 career regular season games. He has averaged 181 hits in his four seasons with the Dodgers since signing as a free agent prior to the 2022 season.
The fan asking Freeman about 3,000 hits estimated his chances at “60 percent.” Rojas soon gave his own estimate — “99.9 percent.”
“I haven’t really thought about it before, but 3,000 is a number that would be very, very cool,”Freeman said, “I’ve always thought of myself as a hitter. And I love hits. I’m something like 500 away, so I’m getting close. Obviously, I need health to be on my side. But I feel great. I understand as you age, sometimes performance goes down. So, I’m trying to stop that curve as much as I can.”
Rojas was asked by Nelson which was his favorite play of the 2026 World Series, won by the Dodgers in a thrilling 5–4 victory in 11 innings in Game 7 at Toronto’s Rogers Centre.
Was it the awkward catch at the hip of Kiké Hernandez’s throw from left field to second base for a Game 6-ending double play?
Was it the game-tying home run in the top of the ninth inning against Toronto closer Jeff Hoffman in Game 7?
Or was it in the bottom of the ninth of a tied game, when Rojas backhanded Daulton Varsho’s bases-loaded grounder, steadied himself after nearly stumbling, and threw to catcher Will Smith for a force out?
“It has to be the grounder with the bases loaded,” Rojas said. “It’s do or die. You can’t boot this ball. That’s why you work on your little drills, on your knees, every single day. You don’t want to miss one, right Freddie? If you miss one, you feel like you lost the World Series. And that was the moment. If we don’t win that Game 7, nothing else matters.”
Freddie Freeman and Miguel Rojas talk milestones behind and ahead was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.