Dodger star Freddie Freeman lauds Padres' spending spree but maintains his team's supremacy: "We’ve a really good team over here too"
The Los Angeles Dodgers were quiet in free agency, but Freddie Freeman isn't concerned. After many pundits cited the San Diego Padres' spending spree as a reason they might have surpassed their LA rivals, Freeman wanted to pump the brakes on that.
He said via Sports Illustrated:
“I’m happy they’re going for it. I don’t mind it. They want to win, that’s fine. But we’ve a really good team over here too.”
He added:
“We’ve been playing really good baseball the last couple weeks. We’re not trying to play the opponent, just play our game. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we’ve been playing really good baseball the last couple weeks.”
Freeman's Dodgers lost the first game they played against San Diego. That only fueled the fire, especially after a playoff series loss to them last year. However, his team responded by taking the next five-including a weekend sweep to drop the Padres three games below .500.
The Dodgers are playing well and after a brief struggle, Freeman has returned to form:
“I talked a couple days ago, I finally felt something in my swing. I know what to do, but sometimes you’ve just got to feel it. I felt very rotational with my hips, and having Wade Miley throwing cutters and sliders, it helped me stay through the baseball a little bit more.”
Over the weekend, the star first baseman was 5/10 with two doubles, a home run, and three RBIs in the series against the Padres. More importantly, they were all wins as LA stretches their NL West lead.
Are Freddie Freeman's Dodgers better than the Padres?
It's hard to judge the Padres as they're not playing very well right now, but on paper, they're one of the most talented teams in the league. A roster with Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish, Manny Machado, Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Xander Bogaerts is that good.
On paper, they might well be better than Freddie Freeman and the Dodgers. However, the game isn't played on paper. This will be worth revisiting at the end of the year when these two are inevitably involved in a tight race, though.