At 36 years old, Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman is nearing the end of his MLB career. But he’s also aware that his retirement may be coming sooner than he originally expected because of his family. Freeman recently opened up to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal regarding how his mindset about the longevity of his career has changed since him and his wife Chelsea welcomed their fourth child, a daughter named London, via surrogate in April. He’s realizing that he is missing the crucial first moments with his daughter, and he already was absent during those experiences with his first three sons.“I’m missing things for something she’ll never know,” Freeman said. “She’s not going to know I missed these things either. But it weighs on me and my heart. I think everybody who knows me knows it weighs on me hard. All I ever wanted was a family. But all I ever wanted to do was play baseball, too. It’s such a hard thing, it really is.”One milestone looming over Freeman’s head, though, is reaching 3,000 career hits. He needs 519 more hits. If he continues collecting his career average of 180 hits per season, Freeman would need to play at least three more years to have a chance at achieving this feat. Freeman does plan to play three more seasons after 2026, he told Rosenthal, but next year’s MLB season is up in the air amidst a potential lockout. RELATED: Ron Darling Blasts Mets on Air After Getting Fed Up With Their Futility“Obviously, getting 3,000 hits would be very, very cool,” Freeman said. “But ever since baby girl came into this world about a month ago, my perspective has changed a little bit on individual stats and how long I would want to play.”This season particularly has been difficult for Freeman to be away from his family. His three sons were born in the offseason or near the offseason, making his daughter’s birth a first for him being in the middle of a season. He only got to leave baseball for a couple days during London’s birth, and now he's constantly traveling across the country playing in games. The emotions are definitely weighing on Freeman.“I don’t like seeing my daughter grow up on a FaceTime call,” Freeman continued. “When I’m sitting in a hotel room by myself at night after a game, I’m just like, ‘Oh man, what am I doing?’ I’m not trying to sound like it’s just me. Believe me, I get it. But when you’ve done a job for as long as I have and achieved almost everything, to be still missing things, that’s what’s hard on older guys in this game.”Freeman is obviously grateful for his incredible MLB career as he competes in his 17th season. He’s won three World Series titles, been named the NL MVP and the World Series MVP and is a nine-time All-Star. He’s definitely had a Hall of Fame worthy career. RELATED: The Giants Want Roch Cholowsky. Here’s Why They Won’t Get Him.It’ll be tough for Freeman to leave the game he loves, no doubt about it, even if it is for family reasons. He told Rosenthal that he recently spoke with his grandfather Ed who shared a piece of advice that really stuck out to the first baseman. He won’t be playing baseball forever, or even that many more years, so to really soak up the memories on the field while he can.“He was like, ‘You’re going to be the best dad, the best husband, for the next 50 years. You only have a few years of this left,’” Freeman said. “Then I was like, that makes a whole lot of sense.”In 52 games so far this season, Freeman is batting .267/.366/.446 with 52 hits, 25 RBIs and six home runs.More MLB from Sports IllustratedAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow