Freeman out of Dodgers lineup for 3rd straight game

No Freeman at first base on getaway day and final game of LA homestand. Freeman has started only 3 of first 8 games this season.

Freddie Freeman remains out of the Dodgers lineup on Wednesday after missing the previous two games after aggravating his surgically-repaired right ankle over the weekend in his shower at home.

Freeman missed the first two games of the season in Japan with discomfort in his left rib, the same rib he cracked during the postseason last year. The right angle he tweaked with a shower slip was severely sprained last September and required surgery in December to remove bone spurs.

Prior to Wednesday’s game, Freeman took part in drills on the field. Manager Dave Roberts told reporters that Freeman will not play at all on Wednesday, instead combining these three games missed with Thursday’s off day to further rest the ankle.

Our discussion in March of how many games Freeman will play during his age-35 season has become more and more relevant in the early portion of the season, especially considering he will likely need to manage his right ankle through at least the All-Star break. Wednesday will be Freeman’s fifth time out of the lineup in the Dodgers eight games this season, which is newsworthy in itself for a player who played in 97.6 percent of his teams’ games over the previous seven seasons.

In his three games played this year, Freeman has two home runs and a double in his 12 at-bats, with four runs batted in.

Will Smith starts behind the plate in the series finale, which marks his third start in a row, against what Roberts said last week about Smith not starting three days in a row during this homestand, especially so early after still dealing with a bone bruise in his left ankle from last season that slowed him this spring training.

Smith is off to a hot start at the plate, 8-for-17 with a home run, double, six walks, and a hit by pitch, reaching base 15 times in his 24 plate appearances, hitting .471/.625/.706. This is his seventh start in eight games this season.

One would imagine that with a day game after a night game this weekend in Philadelphia, Austin Barnes will likely get a start against the Phillies.

The Dodgers have weathered the storm in the early going, with Mookie Betts and Freeman each missing both games in Tokyo, and Betts got a scheduled day off on Saturday after dealing with a stomach illness that sidelined him for two weeks.

Kiké Hernández missed all three games against the Tigers while dealing with a stomach illness of his own. He starts at first base on Wednesday, as he has in every game Freeman has missed so far in 2025.

So while the Dodgers have technically had 13 position players active for each game — 14 players for the two games in Japan, though James Outman did not play in either game against the Cubs before getting optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City — they haven’t had a full complement of players actually available for most games.

That may or may not have contributed to a quirk of player usage thus far this season. Through seven games, only two players have appeared as a sub, and exactly once each. Smith got the game-tying pinch-hit single in the 10th inning on Friday against Detroit, and Chris Taylor played the final three innings in center field on Monday against Atlanta though he did not bat in that contest.

The Dodgers have used only nine position players in five of their seven games so far. Last season, the Dodgers used exactly nine position players 52 times, just under a third of the regular season.