For the primary time in weeks, Freddie Freeman felt no ache final Friday evening.
The Champagne and beer that’d been showered on him and his teammates within the wake of a Sport 5 win within the Nationwide League Division Collection may need helped. The pain-numbing medicine he took pregame (all doctor-approved, as he makes positive to notice) most likely didn’t damage, both.
However for Freeman, it was a concoction of adrenaline, reduction and gratitude that — at the least for a short time — largely numbed the ache in his badly sprained proper ankle.
“Right now I don’t feel anything,” he stated with a smile from the nook of the Dodgers clubhouse, defending his injured proper foot from the celebratory mayhem round him. “So maybe, we should just keep winning.”
Dodger Freddie Freeman runs to first after hitting a single through the first inning of Sport 5 of the NLDS in opposition to the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on Friday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Occasions)
Even in Freeman’s restricted state, the Dodgers have received video games along with his assist.
In 4 begins within the NLDS, Freeman recorded 4 hits and held up defensively, whereas additionally stealing a base in Sport 1. Within the opening contest of the Nationwide League Championship Collection on Sunday, he reached base 3 times and drove in a run. And even after an 0-for-5 in Monday’s Sport 2 loss, his .273 batting common this postseason is third-highest on the workforce.
“He’s sacrificing his body right now,” supervisor Dave Roberts stated. “He’s doing a lot that people don’t know about to stay on the field.”
Ever since rolling his ankle throughout a baserunning mishap on Sept. 26, Freeman has developed a day by day routine with the Dodgers’ medical workforce — and main league bodily therapist Bernard Li, particularly — during which he’ll undergo hours of pregame remedy, following a meticulous course of to get able to play.
On recreation day, Freeman will arrive on the ballpark as early as six hours earlier than first pitch. A lot of the period in-between he spends sprawled on the coach’s desk.
Li, a third-year Dodgers worker who has additionally labored with the Angels, Lakers and USC in his profession, will put Freeman’s ankle by means of plenty of workout routines and medical “modalities,” Freeman stated, aiming to cut back the swelling in his ankle and supply sufficient reduction to have the ability to play in that evening’s recreation.
“He’s gained some extra muscle trying to get that swelling out of my leg, my ankle,” Freeman joked.
Every session takes as much as 4 hours. And as Freeman described it, it’s something however a spa expertise.
“Believe me, it’s not me just laying there in comfort,” stated Freeman, who has resorted to crossword puzzles to occupy his thoughts throughout his rehab work. “When you’re getting pushed on with a sprained ankle, it’s not very comfortable. … I wish it was just laying there and them rubbing on me, but that’s usually not how it’s going.”
Dodger Freddie Freeman talks with first base coach Clayton McCullough after hitting a single throughout Sport 1 of the NLCS in opposition to the Mets at Dodger Stadium on Sunday.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Occasions)
As soon as Li’s remedy is full, Freeman will get into his pregame routine. He’ll take swings within the batting cage. He’ll stretch and floor balls out on the sphere. And, after all, there’s the matter of mentally making ready for 9 innings of postseason baseball, too.
“He has been as committed to a rehab program as anybody has been, since the second it happened,” stated Dodgers’ director of participant efficiency Brandon McDaniel, who together with Li watches over Freeman’s day by day routine. “He’s locked in from the moment that he gets here. … It’s gotta be mentally exhausting. But it’s really, really impressive.”
That doesn’t imply it’s getting any simpler.
Whereas Freeman is aware of his sprain received’t heal as he continues to play by means of this postseason, he and the workforce have been targeted on methods to maintain it from getting worse. Their newest concept: Wrapping his foot in reinforcing spatting tape over the past three video games, to attenuate the probabilities of him rolling it once more.
Requested lately if he’d ever seen a participant try this earlier than, Roberts laughed.
“Not in this sport,” he stated of a technique extra generally utilized by NFL linemen. “Maybe on the gridiron.”
Added McDaniel: “Ultimately, it’s just learning every day, ‘OK, this is great. This is hard on you. You can do this.’ Certain things bother him, certain things don’t. We’re kind of learning as we go.”
The one recreation Freeman — who has additionally battled a facet subject amid his ankle sprain — missed this postseason was Sport 4 of the NLDS, when he and the workforce determined at breakfast to present Freeman a day of relaxation after taking part in within the sequence’ first three contests.
Sport 5 offered one other shut name in any other case, with Freeman’s standing remaining unclear till 90 minutes earlier than first pitch.
That day, Freeman encountered a problem whereas taking pregame grounders. Pushing off his proper foot to vary left and canopy first base was inflicting him hassle. In a winner-take-all event, the issue threatened to maintain him from the sport.
Ever-determined, nonetheless, Freeman snuck out to the bullpen as followers filed into the stadium. For a number of minutes, he experimented with alternative ways to cowl the bag, testing out different routes to the bottom and methods to set his ft as soon as he obtained there.
“Tried a couple of things,” Freeman stated. “And I got to a spot where I could [do it].”
Thus, he hobbled again to the clubhouse and marched straight into Roberts’ workplace.
“I can go,” Freeman informed the supervisor.
Then, he helped set the tone with a first-inning hit.
“You can see he’s grinding out there,” stated teammate Max Muncy, who has moved from third base to first base when Freeman isn’t on the sphere. “When one of your guys is going through that, man it’s hard not to go out there and what you’re gonna do.”
Within the sixth inning that evening, Muncy and his teammates returned the favor.
After Freeman hustled to his proper to area a floor ball within the gap and spin a throw to pitcher Evan Phillips protecting first — “I was like, ‘Come on, you got to get there, you got to get there,’ Freeman recounted later with a laugh — the team’s other three infielders joined an ensuing mound visit between Phillips and catcher Will Smith.
As Freeman gathered himself at first base with a few deep breaths, the meeting lasted longer than usual. It was on purpose.
“In the old days when there was no mound visit limit, you would do that to get the pitcher a break,” Muncy stated. However this time, “We were like … ‘Hey, this is for Freddie. This isn’t for Evan.’ We had to give Freddie a breather.”
Followers cheer as Freddie Freeman runs into Mookie Betts after crossing dwelling plate, utilizing the hug to assist him cease whereas hobbled by a sprained ankle throughout Sport 1 of the NLCS in opposition to the Mets Sunday at Dodger Stadium.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Occasions)
In Sport 1 of the NLCS, Mookie Betts provided Freeman one other help, catching him in his arms after the large first baseman was waved dwelling, grimmacing as he lumbered throughout the plate and labored to hit the breaks.
“I’m only 170 pounds, and he’s a big dude, kind of collapsing,” Betts stated afterward. “Luckily I lift weights, so I was able to hold him.”
One other check awaits Freeman this week, with three-straight video games awaiting the workforce following a cross-country after Monday’s defeat.
However, Roberts stated the Dodgers’ objective this sequence is to have Freeman within the lineup each recreation — hopeful the extra they maintain successful, the extra Freeman will likely be distracted from the ache.
