Freddie Freeman’s ankle injury has visibly hampered him over the last month and — at times — kept him out of the Dodgers lineup.
But that will not be the case in the first game of the 2024 World Series.
Freeman told reporters Tuesday that he will be ready to go and start for Los Angeles in Game 1 against the Yankees on Friday night.
The eight-time All-Star said Tuesday that he was a “100 percent go” for Game 1, though he will not be running during the day’s workouts.
“I’ve had three straight days of running, so every day is going to be better,” Freeman said, per the Los Angeles Times. “Trying to do the best we can to get it to a spot where we’ll be ready to go on Friday.”
Freeman has been getting treatments while playing through the injury, though he left Game 2 of the NLDS early and sat out Game 4.
He also missed Games 4 and 6 against the Mets in the NLCS.
“It’s like you’re running a 100-meter hurdle, and I keep hitting the same hurdle and I run right into it every time,” Freeman told reporters before Game 6. “It is what it is, and I’m doing the best I can.”
He’s gone 7-for-32 in the postseason and has not yet recorded an extra-base hit through two series.
On the pitching front, the Dodgers have also decided on their Game 1 starter, choosing to give righty Jack Flaherty the ball to face Yankees ace Gerrit Cole.
Acquired by Los Angeles at the trade deadline from the Tigers, Flaherty pitched to a 3.58 ERA over his final 10 starts in the regular season, helping stabilize an injured Dodgers rotation.
Despite shutting out the Mets in NLCS Game 1, his overall playoff numbers — over three starts — haven’t been pretty, as he holds a 7.04 ERA and 1.43 WHIP over 15 1/3 innings.
His NLCS Game 5 start on four days’ rest was the worst of the three outings, with Flaherty getting walloped for eight runs on eight hits with no strikeouts in three innings at Citi Field.
Flaherty has not pitched against the Yankees this year.