And if he could find his swing then, he is confident of doing so again now.
uncertain
he → find → swing
Freeman’s 2024 postseason, of course, has become club legend at this point.
asserted
postseason → become → point
How he played through ankle and rib injuries.
asserted
he → play → injuries
How he slumped through the first couple rounds in his severely diminished state.
asserted
he → slump → state
And how, after a week off before that year’s Fall Classic, he tweaked his swing and produced one of the most memorable performances in World Series history — highlighted by his iconic walk-off grand slam in extra innings of Game 1 at Dodger Stadium.
asserted
he → tweak → Stadium
This time, Freeman thinks a similar turnaround could be much more simple, despite battling another physical ailment down the stretch this regular season with patellar tendonitis in his right knee.
uncertain
turnaround → think → knee
“I truly feel good right now, physically,” Freeman said on Tuesday, during a video conference with reporters ahead of the Dodgers’ first pre-National League Division Series bye week workout.
asserted
Freeman → feel → workout
“So it’s on me now to figure out the mechanics of the swing in the next five days.
asserted
it → ’ → days
And I have all the confidence in myself that I will figure that out by [Game 1 on] Saturday.”
asserted
I → have → Saturday
At the start of September, Freeman looked to be on the right track.
asserted
Freeman → look → track
The former MVP was sporting a .300 batting average, accomplishing his primary preseason goal.
asserted
MVP → sport → goal
He had looked more mobile at first base for much of the year, a byproduct of consistent health in his age-36 campaign.
asserted
He → look → campaign
And though he was mired in a power drought, going 47 games between home runs at one point, he had nonetheless remained a key contributor in the heart of the Dodgers’ star-studded batting order.
asserted
he → mire → order
Then, just as the stretch run started to heat up, Freeman’s right knee suddenly began to hurt.
asserted
knee → start → ?
There was no one play that caused the veteran slugger’s injury (at least not that he has pinpointed publicly).
asserted
he → be → injury
He tried to downplay the severity of the issue, despite missing a handful of games during the middle of the month.
asserted
He → try → month
But it nonetheless triggered a slump that put Freeman’s postseason productivity into question, making him perhaps the club’s biggest question mark after a similarly banged-up Shohei Ohtani.
asserted
him → trigger → Ohtani
“[The injury is] affecting him,” manager Dave Roberts said last week.
asserted
Roberts → affect → him
“So how can he sort of navigate being compromised?”
asserted
he → navigate → ?
For much of September, Freeman struggled to find an answer.
asserted
Freeman → struggle → answer
On Sept. 2, he snapped his long-ball drought in a two-hit performance that raised his season-high average to .306 and his OPS to .850.
asserted
that → snap → .850
After that, he spiraled into a three-week slump for the remainder of the regular season, going 12-for-72 (.167) over his final 18 games.
asserted
he → spiral → games
His final full-season numbers: a .288 average (his second-lowest mark since 2015), a .792 OPS (the lowest of his career excluding his 20-game cameo as a rookie in 2010) and just 16 home runs (another career low for a full-length season).
asserted
numbers → exclude → season
Freeman tried to tweak his swing a few times during that stretch, at one point focusing on catching the ball farther out in front in search of more pull power.
asserted
Freeman → try → power
The one thing he did not do, however, was put the blame entirely on his latest physical problem.
asserted
he → do → problem
“I’m not going to make an excuse.
asserted
I → go → excuse
I will never blame my knee,” he insisted after Sunday’s regular-season finale.
asserted
I → blame → finale
“I didn’t play very well, and that’s just how it is.
asserted
it → play → ?
It’s on me now in the next five days to figure out my swing and be prepared for Saturday.”
asserted
It → ’ → Saturday
By Tuesday, Freeman sounded optimistic about that mission.
asserted
Freeman → sound → mission
He reiterated that “my body feels good” and maintained his stance that “I just didn’t play well the last couple months of the season.”
“Did I have some ailments in my knees?
asserted
I → reiterate → knees
Yes, I did,” he said.
asserted
he → do → ?
“I don’t know how much that attributed to subconsciously trying to do stuff where it didn’t hurt as much … so maybe I created bad habits.
asserted
I → know → habits
But I won’t blame it on that.
asserted
I → blame → that
I just played bad.
asserted
I → play → ?
That’s why the bye week is huge.”
asserted
week → ’ → ?
Indeed, Freeman has a specific plan for the next couple days — not only in how many swings he will take (which could be upward of 400 between the batting cages, on-field batting practice and live BP sessions, he said) but also in how he will go about recalibrating his mechanics.
uncertain
he → have → mechanics
“I’m gonna try what I used in the World Series in ’24,” Freeman said, referencing a “step-out” mental cue that impacts how he plants his front foot and is intended to prevent him from cutting his swing across the plate.
asserted
he → go → plate
“That’s the thought going in today, and I’m very confident that that’s gonna help get things back in line throughout the course of the week.
asserted
that → ’ → week
It certainly worked two years ago, when a clearly hampered Freeman went 7-for-32 before the Fall Classic, then emerged from his off-week reset by going 6-for-20 with four home runs in the World Series to earn MVP honors.
asserted
Freeman → work → honors
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
