DENVER — As he hobbled throughout the sphere at Dodger Stadium to speak to reporters on Thursday night time, Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman wore three issues.
A strolling boot. A Nationwide League West championship T-shirt. And, most significantly within the wake of his ankle damage in that night time’s division-clinching win, a relieved and grateful smile.
“It’s like a grapefruit,” Freeman stated of the swelling in his sprained, however not damaged, proper ankle. “But they’re pretty optimistic that I should be able to go by Saturday in the playoffs. That’s what I’m banking on.”
A day later, the Dodgers appeared assured in that risk, as effectively.
When the group filed out of its Champagne-soaked clubhouse Thursday and headed to the airport for a late-night flight to Denver, the place they’ll end the common season with a three-game sequence towards the Colorado Rockies, Freeman stayed again in Southern California.
Though postgame X-rays on his ankle had been damaging, he and the group determined it wouldn’t be clever to topic him to 2 flights for a sequence he doubtless wouldn’t have performed in anyway.
As an alternative, Freeman will stay within the Southland this weekend, getting remedy on his damage in hopes of being prepared for the beginning of the Nationwide League Division Collection subsequent Saturday at Dodger Stadium.
“Obviously it’s really, really swollen, but they said once they get the fluid out, I should be able to go by Saturday,” stated Freeman, who used crutches throughout the Dodgers’ clubhouse celebration however was strolling with simply the boot later within the night time.
“Fortunately enough, we have some time off now to heal this thing,” he added. “I’m optimistic.”
Supervisor Dave Roberts took that optimism one step additional on Friday, saying that he can’t “see any world” the place Freeman isn’t within the lineup for the beginning of the postseason.
“He’s just such a warrior,” Roberts stated. “And he’s gonna do anything he can to post.”
Freddie Freeman slowly will get up after turning his ankle whereas operating to first base towards the Padres on Thursday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Instances)
Freeman’s sprained ankle served as the newest hardship in what has been an arduous season for the 35-year-old slugger.
On the sphere, Freeman has had his least productive season in virtually a decade. Whereas his .282 batting common and .854 OPS are nonetheless effectively above league common, they’ve represented his worst marks since 2015. His 89 RBIs will mark his second-lowest complete in a full season since 2017. And in latest weeks, as he has continued to battle a damaged proper center finger he suffered in August, the left-handed hitter had been visibly annoyed together with his swing, batting simply .241 with 5 extra-base hits in his previous 15 video games.
None of that, nonetheless, has in comparison with the adversity Freeman confronted off the sphere.
In late July, his 3-year-old son, Max, was briefly paralyzed by a daunting case of Guillain-Barré syndrome, forcing Freeman to step away from the group for eight video games. After spending the final two months in bodily remedy, Max solely started strolling on his personal once more final week — a gratifying milestone for the Freeman household, but additionally a mirrored image of the tough journey they’ve confronted throughout the second half of the Dodgers’ season.
“Every day is better and better for Max and that’s all I can really ask for,” Freeman stated. “But yeah, the last couple months have been trying.”
That’s why, despite the fact that he’ll miss the ultimate video games of the common season and need to spend his run-up to the playoff rehabbing his ankle, Freeman was nonetheless upbeat Thursday night time.
“It’s all put in perspective now,” he stated. “Yeah, tough couple of months. But when you look up and see that [we are] NL West champions and Max is walking now, things are OK.”
The identical can seemingly be stated for his sprained ankle, as effectively.
