Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had an alternate lineup written. Freddie Freeman’s name was not on it.
Freeman was expected to be replaced at third base by Teoscar Hernández. Max Muncy was supposed to switch to first base from third base. Third place would go to Kiké Hernández.
“I do not see him playing tonight,” Roberts said Freeman during his discussion with the Fox broadcasters, which took place almost four hours before the opening pitch.
The Dodgers were not seeing the desired improvement in Freeman’s badly damaged ankle. His side was hurting as well. Towards the end of the game, Roberts was not even certain Freeman could have an at-bat. However, Muncy virtually laughed at the idea that Freeman would be absent from Saturday night’s Division Series opener against the San Diego Padres.
“I got told there was a one percent chance that Freddie was going to play. I knew all the way he was going to play,” Muncy said. “He’s going to basically have to be dead to not be out there on that field.”
Freeman, 35, was not exactly sure of himself—at least not in the morning. He told his eight-year-old oldest son, Charlie, as he was leaving the house for Dodger Stadium, “I do not know if Daddy is going to play today.”
to 11 a.m., some 6 1/2 hours before first pitch, he arrived to the park. He continued to believe that he had a “very, very low chance” of making the lineup at 1:30.
The medical staff at the Dodgers had informed Freeman that a four- to six-week stay on the injured list was typical for his ankle issue. His goal was to return in nine days.
And he did.
This was not the same Kirk Gibson in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, hobbling to the plate and homering off Dennis Eckersley. However, Freeman finished the Dodgers’ 7-5 victory over the Padres with a 2-for-5 performance. He even shocked his opponents and teammates by stealing a base, earning them even more respect in the process.
“That guy’s a gamer, man,” said Padres third baseman Manny Machado, another of the sport’s most durable players. “He’s done it his entire career. There was no doubt in my mind he was gonna be in there. I don’t think anything could hold him back.”
In his post-game interview on FS1, Freeman told me right after, “I can not thank the training staff enough.” During his postgame press conference, Roberts made a joke about how “definitely drugged” Freeman was. After the fact, Freeman admitted that “there is some aid,” but he insisted that all of the medications he took were prescribed by a doctor.
It was unclear what exactly the support entailed. A person with knowledge of Freeman’s condition who wished to remain anonymous said that he had at least one injection to assist
"I felt good enough. If I can't play the game the right way then I shouldn't be out there, and I needed to go in that situation if they are going to try to give me 90 feet. I think I got lucky."
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 6, 2024
Freddie Freeman talks with @Ken_Rosenthal about his sprained ankle and why he chose… pic.twitter.com/b4t5QaY55K
his side and relieve pain. He felt better after taking the drug, which allowed him to complete his pregame routine.
He started by hitting in a cage indoors, off a tee, against flips, and with coaches pitching; nothing too difficult. Then, nearly three hours before the game started, he took the field. He ran a few short sprints. completed his standard fielding workouts. spoke with the medical staff and authorities of the Dodgers team.
Freeman informed the media as he was leaving the field that he still needed to check a box. He specifically wanted to hit off a Trajekt machine to mimic game activity. A pitching robot called Trajekt can mimic a pitcher’s exact arm posture and windup by playing back a video of that pitcher.
“I needed to see something harder,” Freeman said.
Freeman gave Roberts the go-ahead once he checked that box. Less than two and a half hours before the game was supposed to start, at 3:17 p.m., the Dodgers finally released their lineup on X. Freeman was batting third and playing first base as usual.
In terms of games played throughout the regular season, he is only surpassed by Carlos Santana since 2011, his first complete season.
Mouthing the word “What?” while standing in the dugout, Dodgers assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness was staring at no one in particular.
In his first two at-bats against Dylan Cease of the Padres, Freeman hit two singles to right, the first at 109 mph and the second at 101 mph. But McGuiness could not believe it when Freeman stole second on a play that held up against a Padres challenge.
“I guarantee you they didn’t think he was running,” McGuiness said. “We didn’t think he was running.”
“You should have seen the faces in the bullpen,” reliever Evan Phillips said. “We were just like, what’s going on with this guy?”
Freddie Freeman didn't know if he would be able to play today because of his injured ankle.
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 6, 2024
He just stole second base. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/r6uQezKd8J
Although Freeman was “playing possum,” a possum might have beaten Freeman to second base, according to Padres manager Mike Shildt. In the meantime, his slide will not be showing up in any instructional videos anytime soon.
“I don’t know if it was a slide or it was a collision with the bag,” Roberts said. “I don’t know what it was.”
But the steal itself?
“A heady play and a gutsy play,” Roberts said.
After hitting a single to start the third, Freeman asked Clayton McCullough, the first base coach, when Cease should take the field. McCullough retorted that, by major-league standards, it was slow—1.65 seconds.
“Can I go?” Freeman asked.
“Can you run?” McCullough replied.
That was when Freeman took off. His theft proved to be ineffective as the Dodgers failed not cut into their 5-3 deficit during that inning. From Freeman’s perspective, he was only utilizing the Padres’ free base, and there were no outs.
“I know I took a big risk with how I’m feeling, but it was just the opportunity presented itself and I had to go for it,” said Freeman, who stole a career-high 23 bases last season but only nine this year. “Like I said before the game, if I can’t play the game the right way, I shouldn’t be out there.”
Roberts admitted there was no stopping him.
”He doesn’t understand the definition of ‘governor,’” Roberts said. “I tried to tell him, ‘play with a governor.’ I’ll tell him again, but I don’t know if it will land.
So, what happens Sunday, with Game 2 beginning at 5:03 PT?
Same process.
“I’ll be here at 10:45,” Freeman said, “to start it all over again.”
Freeman reported that he had a bone bruise in his ankle in addition to a sprain. He only felt the sprain when he attempted to swing and miss on a Tanner Scott, left-hander for the Padres, 1-1 slider. He was surprised to feel the bruise on his bone. But it began to sting about the fourth inning.
He claimed that during the game, adrenaline took over. He felt sleepy once the adrenaline went off. It is challenging on the physical side. It is taxing on the mind.
“I want to compete,” Freeman said. “If I’m out there, I don’t just want to be out there and a body.”
He was persuaded he could play by his final move on Saturday when he hit line drives off the Trajekt machine. He took great pride in having produced a standard Freddie Freeman game—in October, no less. His performance merely cemented his legend among his teammates.
According to Freeman, this season has been “a lot.” Due to his 3-year-old son Maximus’s complete body paralysis from a rare neurological ailment called Guillain-Barré syndrome, he missed eight games in late July and early August (Max recently resumed walking and continues to improve). Freeman missed three games later in August due to a fractured right finger. Then, as the season was coming to a finish, he injured his ankle trying to get away from Padres first baseman Luis Arraez’s tag.
“What I can appreciate most about Freddie Freeman is that he will do anything for his team,” Phillips said. “Today he did literally everything he could to play, and not only play, but play at a high level.”
After missing time from May 17 to August 19 due to a strained right oblique, Muncy, who is still not fully recovered, stated that Freeman’s perseverance is shared by the entire team.
“He inspires a lot of confidence in the guys. He also inspires a lot of attitude,” Muncy said. “When you see that, you want to do the same thing. You want to go out there and play no matter what.”
That governor of his. Freddie Freeman was not going to be denied on Saturday night.
(Top photo of Freddie Freeman:Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
