Freddie Freeman has only known being a National League West division winner since signing a six-year, $127 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2022.
But the 2025 season was much more of a challenge for Freeman and the Dodgers as a whole. There are some similarities to last year, when it also took the Dodgers 159 games to wrap up the division. That was accompanied by Freeman suffering a significant right ankle sprain that ultimately required offseason surgery.
Freeman was aggressive throughout his rehab process to ensure being in the lineup come Opening Day in the Tokyo Series. He’s played in all but 14 games so far this season, spending time on the 15-day injured list and also being among the Dodgers to endure a prolonged slump.
“This awesome every year. To be able to win a division title is special. It’s the first step in our goal. This is always fun for me to see the first-timers that win a division, how excited they are,” Freeman said from the visiting clubhouse at Chase Field.
“It’s been a long year, a lot of grinding going on, so this is special. Took a different route than we thought, but in the end we were able to accomplish the goal.”
Freeman played a strong role in the Dodgers clinching the 2025 NL West title on the first day it became mathematically possible. His solo home run sparked a four-run second inning and a two-run blast broke the game open in the fourth.
“I didn’t really have an offseason, having the surgery, and then trying to get on the field as fast as I could,” Freeman reflected. “There’s been a lot of guys grinding through some aches and pains throughout the course of the year; Tommy’s ankle, Muncy has been dealing with a lot of things, our pitching staff has been going through a bunch of stuff health-wise.
“But when you play together and play for each other, you get on the field and do everything you can to help the Dodgers win that game that night, we were able to do that over the last six months and here we are going to the postseason again.”
Freddie Freeman celebrates Clayton Kershaw
If the Dodgers needed any extra incentive to fuel their pursuit of repeating as World Series champions, they received it when Clayton Kershaw announced plans to retire after his 18th season with the team.
“You’re in awe when playing in against him, and I got to play against him for 12 years. Every time you step in the box it is not fun,” Freeman said.
“And then you come over here and you see his daily work ethic, day in and day out. What he does on and off the field, in the community, not only for Los Angeles, but Dallas and all over the world, I think we’ve barely scratched the surface of emotions.”
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