The Dodgers are giving one of their stars a much-needed rest. The hobbled Freddie Freeman was a notable absence from Dave Roberts’ lineup on Thursday in Game 4 of the NLCS at Citi Field. Freeman has been battling an ankle injury and with three games in three days, the manager is putting his veteran on the bench. “In good spirits,” said Roberts. “He’s obviously ailing and he’s doing everything he can to stay on the field. With the back-to-back games and one tomorrow, just trying to feel kind of make a decision what puts him in the best position for the games going forward. And just tonight seemed easy. Obviously, he wants to be in there. But having him not make the start, run out there on and off the field, be ready for a big spot tonight, made a lot of sense.” The 35-year-old is 3-for-13 in this series and has been in noticeable pain throughout the first three games. “I reached out last night,” Roberts said. “I gave him a call last night, just so if we decided to give him today, I wanted him to take full advantage of not — when he put his head on the pillow, that no, he wasn’t going to be in there tomorrow.” Freeman slashed .282/.378/.476 with 22 homers and 89 RBI in 2024 and is an integral part of the three-headed monster at the top of the lineup after Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts. The Dodgers skipper want’s the 2020 NL MVP to get all the rest possible. “I hope it’s a late arrival to the ballpark. I hope he got here later than he typically does. It’s a late start to get his body going to call it from the fifth inning on be in a spot,” Roberts said. That’s something — as a player when you’re preparing for a game there’s anxiety that goes into, like, the next day. And so hopefully that kind of anxiety has kind of been tempered. And you can kind of lock in from the fifth inning and be on in a spot.”