The Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers are beginning a three-game series at Dodger Stadium not only under the backdrop of two teams at opposite ends of the standings, but also with Jurickson Profar suspended 80 games for a positive PED test and Freddie Freeman not in the lineup against his former team.
After missing the Tokyo Series because of left rib discomfort, Freeman had been in the Dodgers lineup for all six of the games they played before Monday. The stretch began with the exhibition Freeway Series to wrap up Spring Training.
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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Freeman slipped in the shower at home and aggravated his right ankle. Roberts deemed it a “little mishap.”
Freeman felt capable of playing through some swelling, but the Dodgers decided to be cautious and hold him out of Monday’s game.
The Dodgers play two more games against the Braves before a day off Thursday to travel for the start of a road trip against the Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals.
Freeman sprained his right ankle during the final week of the 2024 regular season. It bothered him throughout the playoffs and ultimately required offseason surgery.
While the operation came as a surprise to Freeman, he avoided a more serious surgery.
“So we went in there and cleaned it up. When they went in, they didn’t know if they were going to have to repair some of the ligaments because I had torn some of my ligaments as well in my ankle. It was quite a nasty injury I had,” Freeman said during DodgerFest.
“Luckily, in those four weeks, the ligaments and tendons had healed enough where they didn’t have to fix them. They went in, I had chipped off a part of my cartilage and it floated all the way to the Achilles, so that was one of the things they had to do. And they shaved some spurs down, shaved some bones down.”
Freddie Freeman managing ankle
Freeman was slightly delayed in playing Spring Training games this year but otherwise his recovery from ankle surgery has gone smoothly.
However, he acknowledged the right ankle would have to be tapped for games at least through the All-Star break and there is the potential for accepting more rest days than normal.
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