Dodgers Interview: Freeman’s Focused on Getting Back to Toronto with the Lead

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers walked into Dodger Stadium tied again, one wild night victory followed by a dud on the next day, and now Wednesday at Chavez Ravine matters. Win at home and the flight to Toronto gets lighter. Lose and everything tightens. Freddie Freeman sounded like a player living in the present tense.

“To be honest with you, I haven’t really thought about it at all today,” Freeman said of the 18th-inning walk-off from two nights ago. “Yesterday coming into the field it was fresh on everybody’s mind, but I kind of forgot about it because we’re tied 2-2 in the World Series and you’ve got to get the win today. Maybe I’ll think about it after the series, especially when we win.”

The focus was offense. The group has been stuck in low gear since the marathon. Freeman did not duck it. “I think it’s what, like three runs in the last 20-something innings,” he said. “As an offense, we know we’ve got to score some runs. It takes pressure off Blake if we can score some. We need to string some hits together. Get some hits, get guys on, work the counts, move them first to third, get them in. Kind of like what we did in the second inning yesterday. We need to continue that over and over.”

He described what that should look like against Toronto’s plan. “If we’re going up there just trying to hit home runs, that’s not the name of the game,” he said. “We’ve already faced Trey [Yesavage] once, so hopefully we can have the same plan. I thought we did a pretty good job against him in Game 1, getting him out after four innings. Get the ball up, stay off the bottom of the zone, put good at-bats together, score some runs, and let Blake settle in.”

Responsibility sits in the middle of the order, and he did not shy away from it. “How do I feel knowing for this team to be successful I have to be successful?” he repeated. “I take pride in that, being in the middle of the lineup. That’s what you want to be. There’s a few of us that need to be successful. It can’t always just be Sho. We understand that.”

Freeman was asked why the lineup sometimes chases the big swing. His answer felt human. “It’s the World Series. You want to do a lot,” he said. “That’s kind of how it is. We’re four games in, we’ve seen the pattern, and now it’s on us to stop that pattern and get back to being who we are.”

Routine is his anchor. “It’s about the same,” he said when asked if he changes anything in October. “My routine’s being cut into right now because I’m up here, but it’s about the same. I go back and forth on hitting BP on the field or inside. If I’m hitting outside, it’s because I’m trying to find something, but I feel pretty good right now about my swing. Most of the time I hit three times a day, do my knee drills, my hand drills, and take grounders. Stick to the same routine. It usually works.”

There was time to appreciate an old friend’s moment. “To see Clayton come in in that massive situation, he’s been doing it over and over since 2008,” Freeman said of the Kershaw escape in the 12th during Game 3. “Whenever his name’s called, three days’ rest in postseasons, just doing whatever he’s needed. His first slider was 89. That might be the hardest pitch he threw all year. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s another moment where Clayton comes in and gets us out of one.”

Intentional walks came up because of how the Blue Jays handled Shohei Ohtani. Freeman separated aesthetics from strategy. “The last few years it’s been about speeding up the game, and the intentional walk stops four pitches and keeps it moving,” he said. “It’s strategy. I wouldn’t want Sho to beat me if I was a manager. You’ve got to let the other guys beat them. If that means Sho is on base, that’s also good for the Dodgers. It’s on us to make sure he touches home plate.”

The league’s splitter wave is on his radar, and the matchup details matter. “Splitters are definitely coming back,” he said. “It’s a tough pitch when you don’t see them very often and now they’re back. In this World Series there are a lot of them. Yamamoto throws it at 92 or 93. Trey throws his at 81 or 82. They’re all different. Trey’s got a high release, and it can do different things. It can cut, it can fade, it can go straight down. You have to get acclimated quicker. The approach is to get the ball up.”

He pushed back on the idea that this is only about slumps. “Baseball’s hard. They’re really good,” he said. “It’s the World Series. They wouldn’t be here if they didn’t have good pitching. We understand we need to score runs. Today we have to get the ball up. If we’re chasing down there, that’s not going to be good for us. One plan today is to get up, lock in on that approach.”

Identity questions came late, and he leaned on what the club has weathered. “We faced so many bumps in the road,” he said. “At one point our whole rotation was injured. We’ve had rough spells of the offense, the bullpen, everything. We’ve been through tough times. You go 18 innings and win, and then you don’t play the way you wanted the next day, and you know you’ve got to bounce back. We’re counting on Blake. Hopefully as an offense we can put up better at-bats and get going because that’s who we are.”

One more name drew a smile: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, scheduled for Game 6. “Yoshi’s incredible,” Freeman said. “To come to a new country, new routines, settle in, have that contract and live up to it so fast, and be counted on every five days, it takes a special person. You saw him warming up to come into the 19th the other day after one day’s rest. That’s all you need to know about Yoshinobu. He’ll do anything to win a baseball game. I heard he was throwing like 10 or 15 miles an hour in the bullpen and they said, ‘Can you go?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I can go.’ They said he needed to pick it up because he might come into the ninth, and his next pitch was 97 dotted down and away in the bullpen. That’s incredible.”

The message from the captain of the infield was steady. “It’s 2-2. It’s a best of three now,” Freeman said. “We’ve seen the pattern. Now it’s on us to stop that pattern and get back to being who we are.”

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