Freddie Freeman smashed a solo home run in the fourth inning of Game Three of the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday, a shot that instantly screamed his bat is back for postseason action. It was a crucial moment in a game that saw Kiké Hernández kick off the scoring with a two-run home run, especially as they were facing left-hander Chris Sale, the only guy to toss a complete game shutout against the Dodgers all season in the regular season. This homer from Freeman wasn’t just another long ball, though, it was a declaration.
The Brutal Second Half We All Saw
Look, we all know Freeman had his struggles this year. This was probably his worst offensive season since he first put on a Dodgers uniform. His bat just went silent for a while there, with a dramatic power outage that saw him hit only one home run over his final 66 games. Seriously, one! He’s never even finished a season hitting 21 homers in his first four years as a Dodger. Think about 2025, when he had a two-month stretch with only two home runs, but still managed to finish with 24 overall. This year, his last dinger of the first half came way back on July 4 against the San Diego Padres. He still closed out the first half with 15 bombs and a solid .290/.375/.487 slash line, so things looked alright.
But then the second half hit. While his pure contact ability stayed elite, hitting .338 over his first 39 games, he could only muster nine extra-base hits, and every single one of them was a double. The power just vanished. He finally snapped a brutal 47-game home run drought with a three-run blast against left-hander Brycen Mautz of the St. Louis Cardinals on September 2. But even with the team managing a respectable 13-5 record over their final 18 games with him in the lineup, Freeman himself was a mess. He limped to the finish line with a .167/.208/.167 slash line and zero extra-base hits. Turns out, the whole problem was patellar tendonitis in his right knee. The dude himself said, “I was having trouble moving [on defense]. I didn’t have a front side anymore [in my swing]. It just got to the point where it wasn’t giving me the best opportunity to play like I want to.” He did stumble into the dugout against the Kansas City Royals on August 12, but he clarified that wasn’t the origin of the injury. That first-round bye in the NLDS was huge for him and Shohei Ohtani, giving them a much-needed week of rest to deal with those nagging issues that torpedoed their second-half production.
Is This A World Series Repeat For Freeman?
Here’s the wild part: we’ve seen this movie before, haven’t we? Two years ago, Freeman got hit with a similar fate when he sprained his ankle during the Dodgers’ final regular season series. His production absolutely fell off a cliff during the team’s first two postseason series that year. But what happened next? He went on to mash four home runs in a World Series MVP-winning five-game clash against the Yankees! Talk about flipping a switch!
So far in this postseason, it looks like he’s doing it again, quickly turning the page on that miserable end to the regular season. His first big moment came on Sunday against Grant Holmes, when he smashed a solo home run that put the Dodgers on the scoreboard. And now, this Tuesday, in Game Three of the NLDS against Chris Sale, he’s dropped another one. With Freeman’s bat suddenly alive and well, especially after dealing with that gnarly knee injury, this NLDS just got a whole lot more unpredictable. If history repeats itself the way it did two years ago, the rest of the league needs to watch out.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by True Blue LA.
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