Dodger details: Freddie Freeman's status, pitching plans, hitting fastballs and more

LOS ANGELES – If the Los Angeles Dodgers were hoping for a positive signal on Freddie Freeman's sprained right ankle on Thursday, they got one.

When they opened their simulated game, Freeman was in the lineup. With an unsteady gait he took his first shot.

But when the inning ended, it was Max Muncy — not Freeman — who lined up at first base.

When Freeman made his next plate appearance, it was first base coach Clayton McCullough who walked for him.

On the fourth, a groundout, he didn't run to first.

No, it wasn't much. But for Freeman, it was a small step forward. The Dodgers remained optimistic that Freeman will be ready for Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres on Saturday.

Thursday represented “a big test,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said, because that’s what ultimately happened. The next test will be how Freeman looks running the bases and defending at first base.

Andrew Friedman's change of plans: Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start Game 1 on Saturday and Jack Flaherty will pitch Game 2 on Sunday.

The decisive factor was that as many players as possible were lined up and available for a possible Game 5.

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) October 3, 2024

“It was a real sprain,” Friedman said, “and so it got better every day.”

Muncy at first base is an emergency while Kiké Hernández moves to third base in his absence. Friedman confirmed that Freeman would remain on the NLDS roster even if he was not ready to be in the lineup for Game 1.

The Dodgers have already made a change of course in their pitching lineup this weekend, swapping their top two starters with Yoshinobu Yamamoto starting Game 1 and Jack Flaherty starting Game 2. The reason, Friedman said, is a question of overall planning. Yamamoto has yet to start with regular rest (in almost half of his starts he has had six or more days rest); Starting him in Game 1 would mean five days of rest before a possible Game 5 and give Flaherty the opportunity to return to regular rest after the start of Game 2.

“It’s just about having more options,” Friedman said.

Yamamoto has only pitched in the fifth inning once since June. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Wednesday that the club will likely try to use Yamamoto as a fully-used starter, even though he hasn't thrown a single pitch in the sixth during his rehab period because of a strained rotator cuff. Friedman was less certain that Yamamoto would not take anything less than “extra” rest at any time over the next month. Adjusting the schedule at this point will at least make this more feasible.

That's hardly the pitching plan the Dodgers envisioned – that Yamamoto is still coming back from his injury and that Flaherty is looking for some shaky starts in recent weeks with plenty of questions behind them.

A lingering problem for Flaherty: In his last two starts, he averaged 91.8 and 91.9 mph with his fastball, the lowest average velocities of any start this season. Friedman noted that some “delivery issues” led to the reduced issues the Dodgers' pitching group dealt with throughout the week.

A potential key to containing the Dodgers' offense in the last two postseasons has been simple: heat.

“We got beat with the fastball and didn’t make that adjustment,” Roberts said via video call Wednesday. “This year, of course, there’s a game-planning component, but the bottom line is you have to be able to hit the fastball.”

A year ago against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers hit just .169/.239/.262 against fastballs.

The year before against these Padres? They hit .192/.259/.342 against themselves.

“We've done a lot of damage on fastballs over the years and in the playoffs we just didn't do any damage,” Friedman said. “Whether it's the timing or the time off, I don't really know the answer to why, and so we're attacking it a little differently this week to put our guys in the best position to use the five days to do that. “Help you rest and recover, but also stay current and stay on schedule.”

Familiarity can also play a role. This is the fifth straight season the Dodgers have faced a division opponent in the NLDS: the Padres in 2020, the Giants in 2021, the Padres in 2022, the Diamondbacks in 2023 and now the Padres again.

“It definitely brings an element of chess to it,” Friedman said. “Are you changing things? How will they approach it? I think there are some strategic elements to this way of varying pitcher by pitcher, matchup by matchup. You see her so often. So if you did something special to a certain guy during regular season matchups, do you stick with it? Are you deviating? I think it depends on the case by case.”

Dodger Stadium was nearly empty Tuesday and Wednesday nights, but the club area behind home plate was the focal point for the Dodgers' final week of preparation for October.

The latest attempt to change the club's farewell routine came not during training but after. At the behest of Max Muncy, Will Smith and Miguel Rojas, the group organized watch parties to follow the Atlanta Braves and Padres in the NL Wild Card Series. Food was provided. Table tennis was played.

“I don’t think people understand that our days are so busy,” Alex Vesia said. “To be able to do something as a team, all of us together, together… get together and watch baseball, shoot the ball – and just have a nice evening, that’s perfect.”

The urge was simple. Vesia gestured toward the clubhouse before Thursday's practice, where people were streaming in and out to get the day's work done. Rojas wanted to prevent the week from becoming boring and from losing any momentum that might have remained during a narrow comeback last week.

“We want to do something different than what we have done in previous years,” Rojas said. “I think it will help us to be together as much as possible and form a group. Regardless of the results, we will get through this as a team, as an organization.”

Speaking of variety: Rojas, who sat out last weekend in Denver due to recurring problems with his strained left adductor, was fully involved on Thursday and sported new, silver-colored hair.

Other notes from this week:

• While Shohei Ohtani will continue his pitching development in the postseason, it will peak before he manages to face a hitter, Friedman said.
• Friedman recently returned from a trip to Japan where he watched young prospect Roki Sasaki's final regular season start with the Chiba Lotte Marines. The right-hander, whose position status next winter remains uncertain, “pitched well,” Friedman said, yielding 10 hits and allowing one run in a complete-game outing.

(Photo by Yoshinobu Yamamoto: Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)