Los Angeles Dodgers injuries were a theme throughout the season and they’re going to continue impacting the team heading into the National League Division Series.
While the Dodgers lost several players to injury, that’s not the case for Freddie Freeman, who nevertheless is dealing with a significant right ankle sprain.
Freeman suffered his injury on Sept. 26, when the Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres to clinch the NL West. Now the Dodgers and Padres are going toe-to-toe in the postseason for a third time in the last five years, and Freeman is pushing through a sprained ankle.
“A lot of treatment, a lot of time in the training room,” Freeman said of how he spent much of the Dodgers’ bye week.
Freeman’s comments came after he participated in the Dodgers’ NLDS workout on Thursday. His level of activity included sprints up the first-base line, fielding ground balls and running the bases once.
Those were deemed the final boxes for Freeman to check before being in the Dodgers lineup for Game 1 against the Padres.
“The swelling has come down a lot. So I feel good. Good enough. … I’m sure you’ll be watching me, the slowing down part of running, that’s going to hinder,” he said.
“But overall, today I felt much better than I have in the last couple of days.”
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and manager Dave Roberts both expressed confidence Freeman would be available for the start of the NLDS at the time he suffered the injury.
Friedman and Roberts reiterated that stance while speaking with media this week.
Freeman didn’t play in the Dodgers’ final three games of the regular season, and he also did not travel with the team to Denver in order to continue receiving treatment.
Freddie Freeman’s ankle sprain
While the Dodgers have not provided specifics on the level of Freeman’s ankle sprain, he revealed the severity to be an injury that would require him to not play for at least one month.
“They told me this is a four- to six-week IL stint,” Freeman relayed. “And I’m going to try to do this in a week and play. I’m not going to be hindering, I don’t think. There’s certain plays, like the slowing down stuff.
“I can’t thank (physical therapist) Bernard Li, our whole training staff, for getting me able to be able to do this.
“I did play with a broken finger but I would say — I’ve never sprained an ankle before — so that was the hardest thing. I didn’t know. And they say your first sprained ankle is the worst.
“But they said this is four to six weeks. But I’m going to do it in a week…. It doesn’t matter. Tomorrow, who cares? No one is going to worry about me hindering or anything like that tomorrow.
“We just got to win ball games, and that’s my focus.”
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