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

Freddie Freeman is out of the Los Angeles Dodgers starting lineup for Tuesday's game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park, MLB.com's Sonja Chen reported, with knee soreness keeping the first baseman on the bench for at least one more day. Per the report, Freeman is expected to avoid the injured list — a meaningful distinction for a club whose injury ledger has grown considerably in recent weeks.

What happened

Sonja Chen reported for MLB.com that Freeman is out of the Dodgers lineup again due to knee soreness, though the expectation is that he will not require a stint on the IL. The word "again" in the report signals this is not a first occurrence — Freeman has already missed time with the issue — and the framing around the injured list suggests the club is managing the situation rather than escalating it.

The game is Tuesday, September 15, at Great American Ball Park, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto taking the mound for Los Angeles against Cincinnati's Rhett Lowder.

Why it matters

Freeman's absence lands at a delicate moment for the Dodgers. The club enters Tuesday having lost two straight, and the division magic number sits at 4. A playoff berth is not yet clinched — per earlier Posterior Wire reporting, the Dodgers cannot secure one until at least Monday — so every game in this Cincinnati series carries some operational weight, even with a comfortable cushion in the standings.

The broader context makes the "likely to avoid IL" framing worth noting. Shohei Ohtani was placed on the 15-day injured list backdated to September 8 with left knee, right biceps, and neck issues, per reporting from earlier this week. A day later, MLB.com reported that Ohtani had aggravated his right biceps during his lone game back on Monday, further complicating the club's two-way situation. Freeman's knee soreness, then, is not happening in a vacuum — it is the latest in a stretch of injury management that has asked the Dodgers' roster depth to answer questions it would rather not be asked in September.

The good news, such as it is, comes from an unlikely direction. Josue De Paula, described in earlier Posterior Wire reporting as a top Dodgers prospect, recorded his first career MLB hit — a three-run home run — in the club's recent series against the Marlins. That kind of moment does not replace a veteran first baseman, but it does suggest the expanded September roster is not entirely decorative.

Is Freeman going on the IL?

Per Sonja Chen's report for MLB.com, he is expected to avoid it. That is the operative phrase here: "expected to avoid" is not a clearance, a timeline, or a return date — it is the current read on a situation that remains in progress. The 10-day injured list for position players exists precisely for moments like this, and the fact that the club appears to be steering away from it suggests the soreness is being treated as manageable rather than structural. What "manageable" looks like over the next several days is still an open question.

The numbers

The Dodgers carry a record of 90-59 (.604), sitting first in the NL West with a division magic number of 4. They have dropped their last two games, entering Cincinnati on a two-game losing streak.

Where the club stands

At 90-59, the Dodgers lead the NL West and are four wins — or some combination of wins and division-rival losses — away from clinching the division. The current two-game skid is a minor turbulence against that backdrop, but the club would prefer not to let it extend through a three-game set in Cincinnati.

The schedule ahead: Yamamoto faces Lowder on Tuesday, Blake Snell takes on Andrew Abbott on Wednesday, and Thursday's probable pitchers are listed as TBD for Los Angeles against Brady Singer for Cincinnati. That is a rotation with some real names in it, and the Dodgers will want their lineup as intact as possible behind them.

What we don't know yet

The report does not include a return timeline for Freeman, a diagnosis beyond "knee soreness," or any indication of whether he might be available off the bench Tuesday. It is also unclear how many games he has already missed with this issue, or whether the club has set any internal threshold for when an IL stint would become the preferred option. The "expected to avoid" language is encouraging but explicitly forward-looking — it is a projection, not a resolution.

Ohtani's situation, separately, remains unsettled. The aggravation of his right biceps reported earlier this week adds a layer of uncertainty to the club's roster picture that extends well beyond Freeman's current absence.

What to watch

The most immediate question is whether Freeman returns to the lineup Wednesday against Blake Snell's scheduled start, or whether the club opts for additional rest heading into the final stretch of the regular season. With a magic number of 4 and a two-game losing streak, the Dodgers have some incentive to get their first baseman back in the order — but not at the cost of turning a manageable situation into an IL stint that bleeds into October.

Beyond Freeman, the Reds series offers a window into how the Dodgers manage their depth in a September that has asked more of it than anyone would have drawn up. Yamamoto on the mound Tuesday is a reasonable place to start steadying things. Whether the lineup behind him looks closer to full strength by Wednesday is the thread worth pulling.