FLAIR FOR THE DRAMATIC
Will Freddie Freeman's health allow him to deliver another signature moment?
Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman hit .288 during the regular season with 16 home runs and 70 RBIs. He finished with a .792 OPs.
If teams elect to pitch around Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, will Freeman be able to deliver another magical playoff moment?
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL POSTSEASON
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers' back-to-back World Series championships each have been punctuated by a Freddie Freeman signature moment.
It is the flair for the dramatic. It is coming through in the clutch, at the clutchiest of times. When you tell your friends about the game the next day, it is the first thing you mention.
Did you see that? Did you see Freeman hit the walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series, the one that sucked the hype out of the New York Yankees? Gibby, meet Freddie!
Did you see Freeman hit the walk-off home run in the 18th inning of Game 3 of the 2025 World Series, the one in which the Toronto Blue Jays intentionally walked Shohei Ohtani four times and dared someone else to beat them? Freeman did.
The Dodgers don't really know what you might see out of Freeman this postseason. For Ohtani and Freeman, two of the top four batters in their lineup, the second half has been a struggle amid injuries.
Ohtani's odyssey is headline news, and a matter of international intrigue. But Freeman's inability to hit with power over the final two months, hampered by tendinitis in his right knee, raises this concern: If postseason opponents pitch around Ohtani and dare Freeman to beat them, can he?
"I'm not going to make an excuse," Freeman said. "I will never blame my knee. I didn't play very well, and that's just how it is."
Freeman's 16 home runs this season are a career low for a full season.
In the second half, Freeman hit one home run, with a .339 slugging percentage. Miguel Rojas, better known for his glove, also hit one home run in the second half, with a .345 slugging percentage.
Freeman's career slugging percentage is .505. Since becoming an everyday major leaguer in 2011, Freeman has slugged below .400 in either half of a season just once: in the second half of 2015, when he hit six home runs and slugged .395, amid wrist and oblique injuries.
"I think that the mechanics have changed because they were compromised because of his right knee," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, "and so now that his right knee is getting back to full health, I think he's got to recalibrate the swing, and that's where we're at."
It is one of baseball's eternal challenges: Some part of your body hurts, you make an adjustment — consciously or subconsciously — so your body doesn't hurt so much when you play, and all of a sudden your swing is out of whack. Not by much, maybe, but by just enough to miss that 100mph fastball or that breaking ball you find yourself lunging to reach.
"My body feels good," Freeman said. "I think that's the main thing. I feel like it's in a good spot to be able to do the work and hopefully fix my swing and everything that's been going on the last couple months."
On Sept. 29, Freeman talked about a plan for day-to-day work, to make the adjustments in his swing to restore the production. He thought back to the days before Game 1 of that 2024 World Series, when ankle and rib injuries affected his play so obviously that the Dodgers scratched him from the final game of the NL Championship Series.
Freeman is 37, with one year left on his contract with the Dodgers. He said the ailing knee should not require offseason treatment.
"I have no pain in my knee right now, so I'm not gonna have any doctor's appointments or anything," he said. "So hopefully I'll be ready to go by spring training next year."
Spring training is in jeopardy because of the looming lockout. So let's focus on this postseason, and the opportunity for another Freddie Freeman signature moment.
The last team to three-peat: the 1998-2000 New York Yankees. You might have heard of the most valuable player of that 2000 series. If Freeman leads the Dodgers to a parade this October, we can already hear Joe Davis on the call: Freddie, meet Jeter!
