Inside The Dodgers

Dave Roberts Discusses the 'Sacrifice' Freddie Freeman is Making for Dodgers

Maren Angus-Coombs

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman has mastered the art of being a modern-day Iron Man. He has played 99 percent of his games over the past five years and is somehow able to control the health of his physical body... until a freak incident at the end of the regular season against the San Diego Padres gave Freeman a sprained ankle that should have sidelined him for at least a month.

Instead of watching from the sidelines, Freeman hobbled to a .353 batting average through the first six games of these playoffs. He did that while going through a grueling four-hour pregame process just to take the field feeling comfortable enough to fight through the pain.

His sacrifice for the team hasn't gone unnoticed.

"It's everything," manager Dave Roberts said after Monday's 7-3 loss to the New York Mets in Game 2 of the NLCS. "I think we all believe that if you sacrifice something, then it means more. So he's sacrificing his body right now. He's doing a lot that people don't know about to stay on the field. And so when he's doing that, it means more to him.

"When people see him doing that, it means more to them. So there's a big sacrifice going on. And not much more you can sacrifice than your body."

It isn't in Freeman's nature to take time off. Not even for an injury that would land most on the injured list. He played through a broken finger this season, too.

"When you see him, you know he's got broken bones all over the place and he can barely f---ing walk, and he's out there making plays, stealing bases -- they just don't make them like him anymore," Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux said. "He's different, man. He's a different breed. We all see him out there competing his ass off, even though he can barely walk, and it just makes us compete even harder."

The ankle isn't healing but Freeman isn't going to let it stop him from showing up for his teammates when they need him most.

"Every day it seems to start at right where I was the previous day," Freeman told ESPN's Alden Gonzalez. "It's kind of hard to play through it because it never goes away. It kind of keeps getting worse."

If Freeman wants to play, he has to play the field. He doesn't have the option to be the designated hitter when that is occupied by Shohei Ohtani.

"It's a battle," he said. "It is what it is."

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Maren Angus-Coombs
MAREN ANGUS-COOMBS

Maren Angus-Coombs was born in Los Angeles and raised in Nashville, Tenn. She is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State and has been a sports writer since 2008. Despite growing up in the South, her sports obsession has always been in Los Angeles. She is currently a staff writer at the LA Sports Report Network.

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