LOS ANGELES — If the Los Angeles Dodgers were hoping for a positive sign about Freddie Freeman’s sprained right ankle on Thursday, they got one.
As they opened their simulated game, Freeman was in the lineup. With an uneasy gait, he stepped in for his first at-bat.
But when the inning concluded, it was Max Muncy — not Freeman lining up at first base.
When Freeman walked in his next plate appearance, it was first-base coach Clayton McCullough pinch running for him.
The fourth, a groundout, he didn’t run down to first.
No, it wasn’t much. But for Freeman, it was a small step forward. The Dodgers have continued to express optimism that Freeman will be ready on Saturday for Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres.
Thursday represented “a big test,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said, in that ultimately happening. The next test will be how Freeman looks running the bases and playing defense at first base.
Change of plans, from Andrew Friedman: Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start Game 1 on Saturday, and Jack Flaherty will pitch Game 2 on Sunday.
Big factor was having as many guys lined up and available for a potential Game 5.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) October 3, 2024
“It was a real sprain,” Friedman said, “and so each day it has gotten progressively better.”
Muncy at first base is a contingency, with Kiké Hernández sliding over to third base in his absence. Friedman confirmed that Freeman would remain on the NLDS roster even if he’s not ready to be in the lineup for Game 1.
The Dodgers have already reversed course on how they will line up their pitching this weekend, flipping their top two starters so Yoshinobu Yamamoto starts Game 1 and Jack Flaherty starts Game 2. The reason, Friedman said, was a matter of big-picture planning. Yamamoto has yet to start on regular rest (with close to half of his starts on six days’ rest or more); starting him in Game 1 would leave five days of rest before a potential Game 5, and would allow Flaherty the ability to come back on regular rest after starting Game 2.
“It’s just about having more options,” Friedman said.
Yamamoto has pitched into the fifth inning just once since June. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Wednesday the club will likely look to use Yamamoto as a fully stretched-out starter despite him not throwing a single pitch in the sixth in his rehab from a strained rotator cuff. Friedman was less definitive regarding Yamamoto not pitching on less than “extra” rest at any point over the next month. Adjusting the schedule at this point at least makes that more feasible.
This is hardly the pitching plan the Dodgers envisioned — for Yamamoto to still be gaining his footing after injury, for Flaherty to be searching after some unsteady starts during the final weeks, with plenty of questions behind them.
A lingering concern with Flaherty: In his past two starts he has averaged 91.8 and 91.9 mph with his fastball, the lowest average velocities of any starts this season. Friedman noted some “delivery stuff” led to the diminished stuff, which the Dodgers’ pitching group has spent the week addressing.
A potential key to holding down the Dodgers’ offense in the past two postseasons has been simple: heat.
“We were getting beat with the fastball and we didn’t make that adjustment,” Roberts said via video call on Wednesday. “This year there’s a game-planning component to it, of course, but the bottom line is you have to be able to hit off the fastball.”
A year ago against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers hit just .169/.239/.262 against fastballs.
The year before, against these Padres? They hit .192/.259/.342 against them.
“We have done a lot of damage over the years on fastballs and in the playoffs, we just haven’t,” Friedman said. “Whether it’s timing, the time off, I don’t really know what the answer is in terms of the why and so we’re attacking this week a little bit different to put our guys in the best position to use the five days to help rest and recover, but also stay sync up and timed up.”
Familiarity may play a role, as well. This will mark the fifth consecutive season the Dodgers will face a division opponent in the NLDS: the Padres in 2020, Giants in 2021, Padres in 2022, Diamondbacks in 2023 and now the Padres again.
“It definitely brings on an element of chess,” Friedman said. “Do you change things up? How are they going to approach it? I think there are some strategic elements to that that kind of vary pitcher by pitcher, matchup by matchup. You see them so much, so if you’ve done something specific to a certain guy during the regular season matchups, do you stick with it? Do you deviate? I think that’s on a case-by-case basis.”
Dodger Stadium was close to vacant on Tuesday and Wednesday night, but the club area behind home plate was the hub for the Dodgers’ latest bye week preparation for October.
The newest attempt to switch up the club’s bye routine occurred not during the workouts, but after. At the behest of Max Muncy, Will Smith and Miguel Rojas, the group organized watch parties to follow the Atlanta Braves and Padres in the NL Wild Card Series. Food was catered. Ping-Pong was played.
“I don’t think people understand, our days are so busy,” Alex Vesia said. “To do something as a team, all together, together … to get together and watch some baseball, shoot the s— and just have a nice evening, it’s perfect.”
The urge was simple. Vesia pointed to the clubhouse ahead of Thursday’s workout, with bodies filtering in and out to get the day’s work in. Rojas wanted to avoid the week becoming stale and losing whatever momentum may be left from holding on during a tight division chase just last week.
“We want to do something different with what we did in the years past,” Rojas said. “I think being together and being a group as much as possible is going to help us. Regardless of the results, we’re going to live through this as a team, as an organization.”
Speaking of switching things up: Rojas, who missed this past weekend in Denver due to a recurrence of discomfort from his strained left adductor, was a full participant on Thursday and did so sporting new, silver dyed hair.
Other notes from this week:
- While Shohei Ohtani will continue his throwing progression into the postseason, which will cap out before he makes it to facing any hitters, Friedman said.
- Friedman returned from a recent trip to Japan, where he was spotted watching young phenom Roki Sasaki’s final regular-season start with the Chiba Lotte Marines. The right-hander, whose posting status next winter remains uncertain, “pitched well,” Friedman said, striking out 10 and allowing one run in a complete game effort.
(Photo of Yoshinobu Yamamoto: Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)