LOS ANGELES — Progress for Freddie Freeman meant taking grounders and running the bases. Stopping gave him trouble as he moved around Friday afternoon as a still-limited Freeman completed his full array of pregame workouts under the close eye of club personnel.
With 24 hours left before the Los Angeles Dodgers start their postseason run against the San Diego Padres, the All-Star first baseman said he feels “good enough” to play in Saturday’s Game 1 despite being just a week removed from severely spraining his right ankle.
Freeman didn’t play any of the last three regular-season games for the Dodgers after suffering the injury trying to beat out a groundball at first base in the division clincher against these very same Padres on Sept. 26. After he sprained the ankle, Freeman said, the club’s training staff said it would be a four- to six-week stint on the injured list under normal circumstances.
Freddie Freeman is coming out of the game after twisting his ankle while trying to avoid a tag at first base pic.twitter.com/GweYEOghnL
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) September 27, 2024
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expressed confidence that Freeman would be in the lineup on Saturday.
“I’m expecting him to be in the lineup,” Roberts said. “What that looks like, I guess we’ll know when we see him out there. But with Freddie, I don’t doubt that he’ll be ready to go.”
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said the team would carry Freeman on the roster even if he’s not ready for Game 1.
Freeman said he’s checked all the boxes.
“Tomorrow, who cares,” Freeman said. “No one is going to worry about me hindering or anything like that tomorrow. We just gotta win ballgames and that’s my focus tomorrow.”
Freeman has fashioned himself as something of a modern iron man, missing just two games in his first two seasons as a Dodger: both in post-clinch situations. An arduous second half of this season, however, has seen Freeman miss time — first, to tend to his family after his youngest son, Maximus, was hospitalized with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological condition. After initially trying to play through a hairline fracture in his finger in August, the Dodgers gave him three days off. This ankle injury, Freeman said, has been the most painful injury he’s attempted to play through.
“They say your first sprained ankle is the worst,” Freeman said. “But they said this is four to six weeks. But I’m going to do it in a week.”
Freeman, of course, has remained one of the Dodgers’ most productive hitters this season, producing an .854 OPS in 147 games.
(Photo: Harry How / Getty Images)
