As if an 11-1 loss to the San Diego Padres on Tuesday wasn't bad enough for the Los Angeles Dodgers, their superstar first baseman also suffered an injury in the process.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic) that Freddie Freeman had tweaked his quad in Tuesday's matchup and that he was "managing it." Freeman was still in the Dodgers' starting lineup for Wednesday's game against the Padres and went 1-for-4 with a run scored in a 5-2 win that evened the series.
Freeman is no stranger to playing hurt. He rolled his ankle last September and played through the postseason with broken rib cartilage en route to winning the World Series MVP award. He underwent offseason surgery to address the ankle injury but was subsequently forced to miss games during the Dodgers' opening series in Japan due to pain in his ribs.
Freeman missed another 10 games in early April after he infamously tweaked his surgically repaired ankle in after a shower mishap. Now, the tweaked quad represents the latest injury hurdle that he will have to overcome.
Freddie Freeman is playing with a new injury and Dodgers fans don't know how he does it
As for Freeman's production, the injuries don't appear to have slowed him down in the slightest. The 35-year-old is still batting .347/.417/.579 (good for a .996 OPS). He is leading the National League in batting average, and he has the fourth-best OPS in all of baseball.
While it's an encouraging sign that, at least for now, Freeman's latest injury will not require him to miss any games, his health is going to be key to the Dodgers' success as they pursue back-to-back World Series titles. The Dodgers have a tenuous hold on the top spot in the National League West, sitting just half-game ahead of the San Francisco Giants.
The injuries to the Dodgers' pitching staff, particularly their starting rotation, have put more pressure on their offense to carry the load this season. The longer Freeman continues to play while not at 100%, the more the Dodgers are putting their season in jeopardy. But him at 80% is still eons better than most, so fans will take it.
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