Freddie Freeman out of Dodgers lineup again with knee soreness, expected to avoid IL

Freddie Freeman is out of the Los Angeles Dodgers starting lineup against the Cincinnati Reds due to knee soreness, and while the absence marks another missed game, MLB.com's Sonja Chen reports he is expected to avoid the injured list.

What happened

Freeman was scratched from the Dodgers lineup for the Monday contest at Great American Ball Park, per Sonja Chen of MLB.com. The reason is knee soreness, and the same report indicates that an IL stint is not currently anticipated. That distinction matters — "expected to avoid the IL" is not a clearance, and it is not a return date, but it does separate this situation from a formal roster move, at least for now.

The Dodgers are in Cincinnati for a three-game series, with Tarik Skubal taking the mound Monday against Nick Lodolo. Yoshinobu Yamamoto follows Tuesday against Rhett Lowder, and Blake Snell is lined up Wednesday opposite Andrew Abbott.

Why it matters

The Dodgers are 90-59 (.604), sitting first in the NL West with a division magic number of 4. They are close enough to a division title that every game carries a certain administrative weight, and Freeman — their first baseman and one of the lineup's central figures — being unavailable, even for a day, is worth tracking.

The broader context makes the timing feel a little more loaded. Shohei Ohtani was placed on the 15-day injured list, backdated to September 8, with left knee, right biceps, and neck issues, per earlier Posterior Wire reporting. That move came roughly two days before this Freeman scratch, meaning the Dodgers are navigating the final stretch of the regular season with two of their most prominent position players either on the IL or sitting out with soreness. The roster has expanded to 28 players under September rules, which gives the club more flexibility to manage workloads — but flexibility is not the same as depth when the names in question are Ohtani and Freeman.

Is Freeman heading to the IL?

Per Sonja Chen's report for MLB.com, he is expected to avoid it. That is the operative phrase here: expected. It is a projection, not a transaction, and the situation is worth monitoring across the Cincinnati series. The 10-day injured list for position players exists precisely for situations where a club wants to protect a player without losing him for an extended stretch, and the September expanded roster means adding a replacement would not require a corresponding move off the 40-man. None of that is reported as the plan — it is simply the mechanical backdrop against which the club is making decisions.

The numbers

The Dodgers' record stands at 90-59 (.604). They lead the NL West and carry a division magic number of 4, meaning any combination of Dodgers wins and second-place losses totaling four clinches the division. The club has dropped their last two games, arriving in Cincinnati on a two-game losing streak.

That losing streak includes a defeat to the Miami Marlins that, per earlier Posterior Wire reporting, pushed any potential playoff clinch to Monday at the earliest. The same series produced a notable bright spot: top prospect Josue De Paula recorded his first career MLB hit, a three-run home run, in a game the Dodgers ultimately lost. De Paula's emergence does not replace Freeman in the lineup, but it does suggest the organization has options as it manages its way through September.

Where the club stands

At 90-59, the Dodgers are in a comfortable position in the NL West — first place, magic number of 4 — but comfortable and automatic are different things, and a two-game skid heading into a road series is a reminder that the calendar does not pause for injury management. The three-game set in Cincinnati features Skubal, Yamamoto, and Snell in sequence, which is a rotation that tends to generate confidence regardless of lineup construction.

The division magic number means the Dodgers could clinch with results across the next few days, depending on how the standings move. Whether Freeman is available for any or all of those games remains, per the current reporting, an open question.

What we don't know yet

The MLB.com report, as attributed to Sonja Chen, does not specify how many games Freeman is expected to miss, whether he has undergone imaging, or what the precise nature of the knee soreness is. "Expected to avoid the IL" is the ceiling of what has been reported — it is a directional signal, not a medical clearance or a return timeline.

It is also worth noting that Ohtani's IL placement, per earlier reporting, involved left knee issues among other injuries. Whether Freeman's knee soreness is in any way related to the same joint, or a different one, or a different mechanism entirely, is not addressed in the current report. The desk does not speculate on diagnoses.

What to watch

The most immediate question is whether Freeman appears in the lineup Tuesday or Wednesday in Cincinnati. If he sits out multiple games in this series, the conversation around an IL stint — currently characterized as something the club expects to avoid — may shift. Sonja Chen's report for MLB.com is the source to follow for updates.

Beyond Freeman, the Dodgers' magic number of 4 means the division race could resolve itself during this road trip. The pitching matchups across the three Cincinnati games are set, and the club's ability to generate offense without Freeman in the lineup will be the operational variable worth watching in the short term.

The September roster expansion gives the Dodgers room to maneuver, and De Paula's recent emergence adds a name to the conversation about who fills gaps when the lineup needs adjusting. None of that is a substitute for Freeman, but it is the hand the club is playing as it manages toward October.