LOS ANGELES — Some ties seem more difficult to cut than others.

Hours before game time Monday – almost as if he couldn’t wait to visit his old friends – Freddie Freeman walked across the grass behind home plate at Dodger Stadium and down the steps into the visitors’ dugout. From there, he made his way to the clubhouse to visit his former Atlanta Braves teammates, offering up hugs all along the way.

“Emotions are running big time,” Freeman said a little while later, estimating the meeting featured “25 hugs” and lots of “choked-up moments.”

“A lot of people that know me, it’s emotional for me. I’m just happy to be able to see all the guys. We won a championship together last year, so that’s what we’re all talking about over there.”

Freeman (who said he hadn’t seen any of his teammates since the World Series parade last fall) even joked that he told Rob Smith, the Braves’ video manager, to hide the 2021 World Series ring he was wearing.

“I said ‘Take it off. I don’t wanna see it,’” said Freeman, who will receive his ring when the Dodgers travel to Atlanta for a three-game series June 24-26. “I’ve seen it, obviously, on pictures and videos and all that, but first time I want to see it in person is when it’s going on my finger.”

Meanwhile, Kenley Jansen waited until a little over an hour before game time to cross over to his former work station and visit the Dodgers’ clubhouse.

While Freeman’s departure from Atlanta was sudden – he has admitted to being “blindsided” and “shocked” when the Braves traded for first baseman Matt Olson – and still seems fresh, Jansen’s absence from the Dodgers’ 2022 roster seemed inevitable.

Jansen nearly left as a free agent following the 2016 season. He had all but accepted an offer from the Washington Nationals before pivoting at his wedding when Justin Turner made a plea to run it back with the Dodgers.

That contract entered its final season last year and Jansen knew it might also be his last in a Dodger uniform so he braced himself for the break.

“Like I said in spring training in 2021, you understand where you’re at in your career, the age and everything. And I didn’t want to take it for granted,” Jansen said. “And I didn’t. And I’m glad that I didn’t. Now I know it was an easier transition for me to move on – because I didn’t take last year for granted. I enjoyed every single day. I came every single day like it was my last. Like I said, I had a blast in 2021. Unfortunately, we fell short, but I didn’t take it for granted.”

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has said the team made an effort to re-sign Jansen. But it was a limited effort (in contract terms) and Jansen said it got “tricky” with the unique timing of the lockout and a short sprint to Opening Day when it ended.

“It was definitely emotional,” Jansen said Monday of accepting a one-year, $16 million contract from the Braves instead. “It was a great opportunity with the Braves. I didn’t feel it until I got on the phone with Andrew Friedman and I got on the phone with B-Mac (vice president of player performance Brandon McDaniel) and JT, Kersh, those guys. That’s when it really hit me. I got real emotional.

“You’re leaving. It’s like – when you’ve grown up in baseball playing for one team, it’s like you’re leaving your parents to go to college. Whatever you want to call it. It was an exciting moment for me to see what the future was, being in a new uniform, playing for a new team. But it was also emotional.”

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The Dodgers made a special presentation to Jansen on the field before the game, playing “California Love” for him one last time as the fans cheered – possibly some of the same fans who booed him during low moments in recent seasons.

“I expect a warm welcome,” Jansen said before the ceremony. “We did a lot of great things. I appreciate them. I always appreciate them. They were hard on me at the end. I understand that, because I’ve been doing some stuff at such a high standard, put such a high standard for myself. Sometimes, when you show you’re human – it’s a very competitive organization and the fans want to see this team win ballgames. Like I said, I expect them to give me a warm welcome. I love them and I know they will love me.”

If that ceremony offered a measure of closure for the Dodgers’ all-time saves leader, Freeman said he isn’t really looking for his.

“I don’t know if any of us are really looking for closure,” Freeman said. “I had a great 12 years. I’m not trying to close anything. I’m just trying to move on obviously. But I had so many great memories with the Braves and with those guys over there.”

UP NEXT

Braves (LHP Max Fried, 0-2, 5.73 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Walker Buehler, 1-0, 3.38 ERA), Tuesday, 7:10 p.m., SNLA, TBS (out of market only), 570 AM