Immediately following the Astros’ shockingly early elimination from the postseason, Alex Bregman said he hadn’t had a chance to process the fact that he was about to become a free agent because, “I was planning on being here tomorrow.”

After leaving the ballpark following his team’s sweep at the hands of the Tigers in the wild-card round, the Astros third baseman posted a simple, “Thank you, Houston” to social media.

A couple weeks later, Bregman, who becomes a free agent after the World Series is over, posted a more in-depth message.

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“Astros fans, thank you for the support all year long, we came up short this year, but proud of the guys for the effort and the fight,” Bregman posted on Instagram late Sunday night.

Bregman, who the Astros drafted second overall out of LSU in 2015, made his big league debut a year later and was a key part of Houston’s seven straight trips to the American League Championship Series and two World Series titles.

Bregman, his wife Reagan and 2-year-old son Knox spent the weekend in Baton Rouge where they watched LSU beat Mississippi in a thrilling college football game at Tiger Stadium and had Knox taking batting practice on the field at LSU’s Alex Box Stadium.

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The $100 million contract extension Bregman signed in 2019 is set to expire, making him a free agent for the first time in his career. The bidding likely will begin somewhere north of the six-year, $151 million extension the Giants gave third baseman Matt Champan in September.  In Jim Crane’s tenure as Astros owner, the team has not given out a contract longer than six years or worth more than $151 million.