Freddie Freeman had visions of returning to the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup for their road trip that started last week, but he instead was placed on the 10-day injured list because of a sprained right ankle.
The injury stemmed from Freeman slipping in a shower at his home, which aggravated his surgically-repaired ankle that originally was sprained during the final week of the 2024 season. The 35-year-old has a well-known drive to play in every game, but spending time on the IL afforded Freeman a new perspective.
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“It actually was very valuable,” he said upon returning from the injured list last week. “I’ve admitted it over this week to the Dodgers that I’m very thankful. I feel the best I’ve felt since I got hurt. So this was huge. I had an MRI and it just showed fraying of my scar tissue, so it was almost like a freeing thing.
“By Sunday, I felt like I could go, so I started doing live BPs on Monday and Wednesday, did Trajekt [Thursday]. I feel really good. Hate to say it, but I might’ve needed the 10 days.”
While Freeman recognized the time off ultimately suited him well, there wasn’t a change to his overall mindset.
“For me, I’m going to be full bore,” Freeman said. “We haven’t had any conversations (about potential rest). I was getting tighter in my ankle that third game against the Tigers, but I feel way better now than I was going into that series.
“I do think it will be series-to-series, how I feel on Sunday of my third game in a row, how I feel on Monday. I do feel really good and in my mind, I’m playing every game. If my joint is a little inflamed from playing five games in a row or something like that, we’ll be smart about it.
“But in my mind right now, I’m going every game until something tells me otherwise.”
Dodgers get more rest for Freddie Freeman
Freeman played in back-to-back games before being held out of the Dodgers lineup for precautionary reasons. That came after getting removed in the eighth inning of a lopsided loss to the Chicago Cubs on Saturday night.
“Planned off day. He was either going to take today or tomorrow off, given that we have six in a row,” manager Dave Roberts said Sunday. “He wasn’t going to play six in a row, so we just felt that today would be the best day, and then we’ll run him for three against the Rockies.”
Freeman pinch-hit in the ninth inning of the Dodgers’ 4-2 loss to the Cubs.
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