Dodgers News: Dalton Rushing, Joe Musgrove injury, Freddie Freeman

The Dodgers are gearing up for the NLDS against the Padres, and workouts and sim games have commenced at Dodger Stadium. Unfortunately, LA has an uphill battle ahead of them; the Padres are hot after sweeping the Braves in the Wild Card round, and have a winning regular season record against the Dodgers. LA does have the benefit of taking the last head-to-head series between the two parties, but this is playoff baseball; anything could happen.

There was a conspicuous presence at during the Dodgers' sim games on Thursday: No. 1 prospect Dalton Rushing. Fabian Ardaya reported that there were a "vast number" of potential taxi squad players in attendance, but singled out Rushing, who could still be added to the playoff roster with an injury and a petition to the commissioner's office.

Rushing, a catcher/left fielder, would probably be added as an outfielder if he were to be added at all. Catcher is settled with Will Smith, and backup catcher Austin Barnes has returned from injury, but Rushing could be a contingency plan for another hiccup with Barnes. He could also fill in if Andy Pages, Teoscar Hernández, Tommy Edman, or Mookie Betts were to meet an untimely injury.

Kevin Kiermaier's future is also still up in the air; he dislocated his finger and missed the Dodgers' last regular season game. It feels almost impossible that the Dodgers would give a prospect his MLB debut during the postseason, but Rushing's presence at workouts is definitely something to keep an eye on.

Dodgers News: Dalton Rushing present at Dodger Stadium, Joe Musgrove injured, Freddie Freeman progress

In more, perhaps more troubling, news from the workouts: Freddie Freeman is present and was spotted taking at-bats, but not playing defense. He's coming off of a rolled ankle, and although the Dodgers have remained optimistic he'll be ready to go for the DS, Max Muncy was also seen taking reps at first.

It could be that the Dodgers don't want to push Freeman too soon, but Game 1 is on Saturday, so 'too soon' might not exist. Making Freeman their DH isn't an option with Shohei Ohtani in that spot, so they're definitely going to need to get Freeman back on the field before the game starts. The first baseman called this a "4-to-6-week injury" that he's rushing back from on Friday, so forgive us if our confidence is low.

Looking forward the series, Dylan Cease will face off against Yoshinobu Yamamoto (surprise: not Jack Flaherty) in Game 1, and Michael King will likely get the ball for San Diego in Game 2 against Flaherty, but the Padres hit a stumbling block during the Wild Card when Joe Musgrove was pulled from his start with elbow tightness. On Friday evening, the Padres revealed their ace would be undergoing Tommy John surgery in a brutal blow to their recent momentum.