The Los Angeles Dodgers are opening a four-game series against the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night after a weekend that snapped their recent momentum.
An eight-game winning streak had carried them into the Miami series, but the Marlins took the final two games and claimed two of three.
First pitch Monday featured left-hander Tarik Skubal on the mound for Los Angeles, and the club made a notable lineup call before the opener: first baseman Freddie Freeman would sit.
Manager Dave Roberts had already indicated after Sunday’s loss that Freeman was unlikely to play Monday. The official lineup confirmed it, via Underdog MLB.
Freeman has been dealing with right knee tendinitis and has missed several games over the past week. The issue is being treated as manageable rather than something that will immediately land him on the injured list, though it arrives at an awkward moment with October approaching.
In Freeman’s place, Enrique Hernández started at first base. The rest of the order had Tommy Edman in center, Mookie Betts at shortstop, Will Smith catching, Kyle Tucker in right, Teoscar Hernández in left, Miguel Rojas at second, Max Muncy at third, and J. De Paula as the designated hitter, with Skubal starting.
Freeman’s season still looks like the career that has defined him for 17 years in the majors. Through 142 games and 533 at-bats he is hitting .293 with 72 runs, 156 hits, 16 home runs, and 66 RBIs.
His slugging percentage sits at .447 and his OPS at .818. Those numbers, however, sit beside a cold stretch: he has gone 1-for-26 in his last 26 at-bats.
The combination of the slump and the knee problem is why the Dodgers chose rest over forcing him into the lineup against Cincinnati.
For a club that spent most of the past week rolling, the two losses in Miami and Freeman’s absence change the tone heading into this series. Skubal gives them a high-end arm to start the set, and the supporting cast remains deep enough to absorb one night without their regular first baseman.
The larger question is how quickly the knee settles and whether Freeman’s bat comes with it. The Dodgers have not framed the situation as a long-term absence, but they also have not treated it as something to ignore with the postseason calendar closing in.
Monday’s decision was straightforward: give the knee a night, keep Freeman off the injured list for now, and see how he responds.
The Reds series will test how the rest of the lineup holds up in the meantime.
