The Los Angeles Dodgers are in the final stretch of their push to get to the end of the season, and while they are winning much more as of late, they have to do their best to stay ahead of the Atlanta Braves for the second seed in the NL as they are still dealing with injuries to key players.
Wednesday night’s game saw both Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman out of the Dodger lineup, with and Ohtani headed for the injured list. Jack Harris at the California Post has more.
The earliest Ohtani can return
from the IL is September 23, with five games remaining in the regular season.
Meanwhile, Freeman is dealing with a knee issue, and the team is hoping that by giving Freeman the night off before an off day, he will be able to return to the lineup on Friday in Miami.
Bill Shakin of the L.A. Times writes about why the Dodgers need that first round bye, of course with their injuries being first and foremost, and that the team would benefit from giving their aging stars the most rest possible before their portion of the playoffs begin.
Sonja Chen of MLB.com further discusses Freeman’s sore knee and how the team don’t see an IL stint for him at the moment.
“Freddie does a really good job of hitting against his front side, and then when you can’t do that with your front side, your right knee, then you’re compromised,” Roberts said. “I see there’s a lot more swing-and-miss the last few days. That’s just not who he is.”
As stated, the team will rest Freeman Wednesday, have an off day on Thursday, and will assess on Friday. He could also sit that first game of the Marlins series in Miami, but Dave Roberts said Freeman going on the IL is “absolutely not” a possibility.
