by Cary Osborne
Which Dodger has made the most consistent hard contact in the postseason?
It’s the one with the damaged ankle. The one getting early treatment at the ballpark, hobbling out of the batter’s box, gutting his way through games.
Freeman, despite the badly sprained ankle that should have meant four-to-six weeks off of games, is hitting well beyond what the surface numbers are saying.
He is 6-for-22 in the postseason with a .273/.304/.273/.577 OPS — all numbers far beneath his career usuals.
But Freeman leads the team with 11 hard-hit balls. His expected batting average — based on all his batted-ball events — is a Dodger postseason-leading .367.
The wheel is damaged, but the car still runs reliably.
It might be best explained that Freeman’s motor has never shut off.
Freeman said it has taken him about 4 ½ hours to get ready for postseason games, which made the turnaround from the night Game 1 to the day Game 2 all the more difficult.
“I would say when I wake up, I know if I’m going to be able to make it through now. We got a good plan,” Freeman said after NLCS Game 1. “I’m getting used to it. I know what to expect day in and day out. And I mean, it’s obviously not going to get better, but I think we’re at a good point where it’s not going to get worse, unless I roll it again.”
Freeman has taken up residence on the trainer’s table before games receiving various treatments but also doing exercises to wake the ankle up. His ankle has been wrapped so heavily that manager Dave Roberts said when asked if he had seen a player this taped up replied: “Not in this sport. Maybe on the gridiron.”
Freeman’s cleats are even taped up — a preventative called “spatting” to keep the ankles from rolling.
Freeman has missed one of the Dodgers’ seven games thus far in the postseason — Game 4 of the NLDS.
He’s had a couple of hold-your-breath moments on baserunning plays. After rolling the ankle on Sept. 26 and missing the final three games of the regular season, Freeman stole a base in Game 1 of the NLDS. Freeman said he recognized that Padres starter Dylan Cease was slow to the plate, and he felt like he could make a baseball play to put his team in a better position to score.
“It surprised everyone,” Roberts said. “I told him he doesn’t understand the definition of ‘governor.’ I try to tell him to play with a governor. I’ll tell him again. But I don’t know if it will land.”
Freeman scored from second base on a Max Muncy single in Game 1 of the NLCS. His momentum kept him going past home plate like a runaway freight truck. Mookie Betts, who also scored on the play, was there to stop him and hold onto him.
“I’m just trying to push it and make sure I get it, especially with two outs,” Freeman said of the play. “In the first inning you want to you want to capitalize on those things. You don’t want to be a base-to-base guy. So give it all I got.”
NLCS: Freeman’s wheel’s bad, but the motor doesn’t stop running was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.