Freddie Freeman was in the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup when they began a stretch of three consecutive National League Championship Series games at Citi Field, but he did not play against the New York Mets on Thursday.
Freeman collected one hit in five at-bats during Game 3, but where he really made his mark was in the field with a key scoop on a double play in the sixth inning to get the Dodgers out of a jam. It was the latest example of Freeman playing stellar defense throughout the postseason despite a significant right ankle sprain.
The Dodgers’ 2-1 series advantage entering Thursday afforded them some flexibility with keeping Freeman out of the lineup in Game 4.
“In good spirits,” answered manager Dave Roberts when asked about Freeman before the Dodgers’ 10-2 win on Thursday.
“He’s obviously ailing and he’s doing everything he can to stay on the field. With the back-to-back games and one [Friday], just trying to kind of make a decision what puts him in the best position for the games going forward, and just tonight seemed easy.
“Obviously he wants to be in there, but having him not make the start, run out there on and off the field, be ready for a big spot tonight, made a lot of sense.”
The Dodgers were able to come to a decision rather quickly, with Roberts contacting Freeman late Wednesday night to inform him of the decision.
“I gave him a call, just so if we decided to give him today, I wanted him to take full advantage of when he put his head on the pillow, that no, he wasn’t going to be in there,” Roberts explained.
There have been plenty of reminders this postseason of how severe Freeman’s injury is whenever he has to make a non-routine play at first base, or run the bases.
Freddie Freeman accepted Dodgers decision
For his career, Freeman has been one of the most dependable players in MLB. Across 14 full seasons, he has played fewer than 147 games just two times in his career. One of those being the shortened 2020 season in which he played all 60 games.
Freeman does not typically like being on the bench if he can help it, but in this instance he was very understanding of Roberts’ decision.
“He asked me if he was being benched. That’s one thing. He doesn’t offer up days off. We all know, I know how much he’s going through to stay on the field,” Roberts said.
“So I think that he understood that it’s for his best interests to kind of not start tonight’s game, but he took it like a professional.”
Freeman is back in the Dodgers lineup as they look to close out the Mets in Game 5.
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