- Freddie Freeman arrives at the ballpark six hours early to prepare to play on his injured ankle.
- The Dodgers’ staff adjust Freeman’s extensive treatment based on how his ankle responds.
- Freeman’s teammates are trying to help protect him on the field.
For the first time in weeks, Freddie Freeman felt no pain last Friday night.
The Champagne and beer that’d been showered on him and his teammates in the wake of a Game 5 win in the National League Division Series might have helped. The pain-numbing medication he took pregame (all doctor-approved, as he makes sure to note) probably didn’t hurt, either.
But for Freeman, it was a concoction of adrenaline, relief and gratitude that — at least for a little while — mostly numbed the pain in his badly sprained right ankle.
“Right now I don’t feel anything,” he said with a smile from the corner of the Dodgers clubhouse, protecting his injured right foot from the celebratory mayhem around him. “So maybe, we should just keep winning.”
Even in Freeman’s limited state, the Dodgers have won games with his help.
In four starts in the NLDS, Freeman recorded four hits and held up defensively, while also stealing a base in Game 1. In the opening contest of the National League Championship Series on Sunday, he reached base three times and drove in a run. And even after an 0-for-5 in Monday’s Game 2 loss, his .273 batting average this postseason is third-highest on the team.
“He’s sacrificing his body right now,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s doing a lot that people don’t know about to stay on the field.”
Ever since rolling his ankle during a baserunning mishap on Sept. 26, Freeman has developed a daily routine with the Dodgers’ medical team — and major league physical therapist Bernard Li, in particular — in which he will go through hours of pregame treatment, following a meticulous process to get ready to play.
The right-hander will be facing an explosive Mets lineup in a hostile environment at Citi Field on Wednesday night, but he won’t be intimidated.
On game day, Freeman will arrive at the ballpark as early as six hours before first pitch. Much of the intervening time he spends sprawled on the trainer’s table.
Li, a third-year Dodgers employee who has also worked with the Angels, Lakers and USC, will put Freeman’s ankle through a number of exercises and medical “modalities,” Freeman said, aiming to reduce the swelling in his ankle and provide enough relief to be able to play in that night’s game.
“He’s gained some extra muscle trying to get that swelling out of my leg, my ankle,” Freeman joked.
Each session takes up to four hours. And as Freeman described it, it’s anything but a spa experience.
“Believe me, it’s not me just laying there in comfort,” said Freeman, who has resorted to crossword puzzles to occupy his mind during his rehab work. “When you’re getting pushed on with a sprained ankle, it’s not very comfortable. … I wish it was just laying there and them rubbing on me, but that’s usually not how it’s going.”
Once Li’s treatment is complete, Freeman will get into his pregame routine. He’ll take swings in the batting cage. He’ll stretch and take ground balls out on the field. And, of course, there’s the matter of mentally preparing for nine innings of postseason baseball.
“He has been as committed to a rehab program as anybody has been, since the second it happened,” said Dodgers director of player performance Brandon McDaniel, who along with Li watches over Freeman’s daily routine. “He’s locked in from the moment that he gets here. … It’s gotta be mentally exhausting. But it’s really, really impressive.”
That doesn’t mean it’s getting any easier.
While Freeman knows his sprain won’t heal as he continues to play through this postseason, he and the team have been focused on ways to keep it from getting worse. Their latest idea: Wrapping his foot in reinforcing spatting tape over the last three games, to minimize the chances of him rolling it again.
The Dodgers entered NLCS Game 2 looking practically unbeatable, but the New York Mets buried any notion of an easy series for L.A. with their 7-3 victory.
Asked recently if he’d ever seen a player do that before, Roberts laughed.
“Not in this sport,” he said of a method more commonly used by NFL linemen. “Maybe on the gridiron.”
Added McDaniel: “Ultimately, it’s just learning every day, ‘OK, this is great. This is hard on you. You can do this.’ Certain things bother him, certain things don’t. We’re kind of learning as we go.”
The one game Freeman — who has also battled a side issue amid his ankle sprain — missed this postseason was Game 4 of the NLDS, when he and the team decided at breakfast to give Freeman a day of rest after playing in the series’ first three contests.
Game 5 presented another close call otherwise, with Freeman’s status unclear until 90 minutes before first pitch.
That day, Freeman encountered an issue while taking pregame grounders. Pushing off his right foot to range left and cover first base was causing him trouble. In a winner-take-all occasion, the problem threatened to keep him from the game.
Ever determined, however, Freeman sneaked out to the bullpen as fans filed into the stadium. For several minutes, he experimented with different ways to cover the bag, testing out alternative routes to the base and ways to set his feet once he got there.
“Tried a couple of things,” Freeman said. “And I got to a spot where I could [do it].”
Thus, he hobbled back to the clubhouse and marched straight into Roberts’ office.
Freddie Freeman will start for the Dodgers in Game 1 of the NLDS against the San Diego Padres, but his right ankle sprain is still a concern for him.
“I can go,” Freeman told the manager.
Then, he helped set the tone with a first-inning hit.
“You can see he’s grinding out there,” said teammate Max Muncy, who has moved from third base to first base when Freeman isn’t on the field. “When one of your guys is going through that, man it’s hard not to go out there and do what you’re gonna do.”
In the sixth inning that night, Muncy and his teammates returned the favor.
After Freeman hustled to his right to field a ground ball in the hole and spin a throw to pitcher Evan Phillips covering first — “I was like, ‘Come on, you got to get there, you got to get there,’ Freeman recounted later with a laugh — the team’s other three infielders joined a mound visit between Phillips and catcher Will Smith.
As Freeman gathered himself at first base with a few deep breaths, the meeting lasted longer than usual. It was on purpose.
“In the old days when there was no mound visit limit, you would do that to get the pitcher a break,” Muncy said. But this time, “We were like … ‘Hey, this is for Freddie. This isn’t for Evan.’ We had to give Freddie a breather.”
In Game 1 of the NLCS, Mookie Betts offered Freeman another assist, catching him in his arms after the big first baseman was waved home, grimacing as he lumbered across the plate and labored to hit the brakes.
“I’m only 170 pounds, and he’s a big dude, kind of collapsing,” Betts said afterward. “Luckily I lift weights, so I was able to hold him.”
Another test awaits Freeman this week, with three straight games awaiting the team following a cross-country flight after Monday’s defeat.
But, Roberts said the Dodgers’ goal this series is to have Freeman in the lineup every game — hopeful the more they keep winning, the more Freeman will be distracted from the pain.
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