The 2024 MLB postseason continues Saturday night when Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres open the NLDS at Dodger Stadium. The Padres eliminated the Atlanta Braves in the Wild Card Series earlier this week. The Dodgers finished with baseball's best record and had a Wild Card Series bye. Saturday will be their first postseason game.
As recently as Saturday afternoon, manager Dave Roberts acknowledged Freddie Freeman may not be in the Game 1 as he dealt with a sprained ankle, but he will indeed start the series-opener following another day of treatment.
Freeman spent the team's bye week receiving treatment and testing the ankle in batting practice and running the bases. He also tested the ankle with plays at first base. Freeman cannot DH, as that is Shohei Ohtani's spot, so he must be able to play on the ankle on both sides of the ball. It's not just about getting his bat into the lineup. He has to be able to play first base too.
"They told me this is a 4-6 week IL stint, and I'm going to try to do this in a week and play," Freeman said Friday. "I'm not going to be hindering, I don't think. There's certain plays, like the slowing down stuff. I can't thank (team physical therapist) Bernard Li, our whole training staff, for getting me able to be able to do this."
If Freeman cannot play at any point, Roberts said Max Muncy will slide over to first base and Enrique Hernández will step in at third. The Dodgers could always pull Freeman for defense in the late innings. It would not be ideal, but in the postseason, getting 6-7 innings of Freeman is better than getting no innings of Freeman. That's one way to get him in the lineup.
Freeman, 35, authored a .282/.378/.476 batting line with 35 doubles and 22 home runs in 147 games this year. He has been one of the game's great ironmen, playing 859 of 870 possible regular season games from 2018-23.
In less good news, left-hander Clayton Kershaw will not pitch in October, Roberts confirmed before Game 1. Kershaw has been out since Aug. 30 with a bone spur in his big toe. He had been working toward a return in the postseason, but said his injury was getting worse, not better. Offseason surgery has not been ruled out, he told reporters Saturday.
Kershaw made seven starts and had a 4.50 ERA in 30 innings after returning from shoulder surgery this summer.