When 26-year-old Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto makes his first pitch of Game-1 of the 2024 National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium at 5:38 PM PT on Saturday, it will have been exactly 10 days since Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman sprained his right ankle while trying to avoid a tag in the Dodgers division-clinching 7-2 win over those same San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on September 26.

As we all painfully know, it usually takes considerably longer than 10 days to fully recover from such an injury, and the mere thought of the amount of pressure and torque necessary to swing a bat, run, stop and slide at baseball’s highest level makes us all cringe.

Lo and behold, there was Freeman working out at Dodger Stadium on Friday afternoon, after which he told reporters “A lot of treatment, a lot of time in the training room, the swelling has come down a lot. So, I feel good, good enough.

“There’s gonna be… I’m sure you’ll be watching me, I’m sure the slowing down part of running is gonna be a little… that’s gonna hinder, but overall, today I felt really really really much better than I have in the last couple of days,” added the extremely popular 35-year-old Villa Park, CA native and future Hall of Famer.

As for Yamamoto, he told the gathered media that he was informed that he would now start Game-1 instead of Game-2 while he was working out earlier in the week. He added that his experience in big games, more specifically in the World Baseball Classic, will definitely be of help to him in the postseason.

“I have experience in big games, but this is my first MLB playoff, so it’s going to be a big one, so I’m going to try to do my best to contribute,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter.

Play Ball!

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