The Los Angeles Dodgers held their first workout in advance of the 2019 National League Division Series beginning, which concluded with a simulated game that saw Corey Seager and Justin Turner, among others, log at-bats against Tony Gonsolin and Pedro Baez.
It was particularly notable for Turner in that he missed the final five games of the regular season because of back tightness. That came after he also missed time because of a sprained left ankle.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Turner was now healthy and expected to be in the lineup against the Washington Nationals in Game 1 of the NLDS. That sentiment also applied to Seager, who was removed early from a game last week because of hamstring tightness.
The Dodgers not only avoided another injury with Seager, but he himself escaped an incident when driving past a parked car, according to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager was involved in a minor traffic accident on Tuesday afternoon. As Seager described it, he was passing a car parked on the side of the road when someone opened the driver’s side door. There was damage to both cars but no injuries.
After battling an undisclosed leg issue in 2016, elbow and back trouble in 2017, and missing last year while recovering from Tommy John and arthroscopic hip surgeries, Seager is healthy heading into the postseason for the first time in his career.
It can be reasoned that was also the case after Seager made his MLB debut in 2015, though a counter to that was he suffered from fatigue due to playing the highest number of games in his young career.
After shaking off the rust from essentially missing the entire 2018 season, Seager’s rhythm was interrupted when he suffered a left hamstring strain that required one month on the 10-day injured list.
Despite not always being satisfied with his feel at the plate this season, Seager batted a productive .272/.335/.483 with 44 doubles, 19 home runs and 87 RBI over 134 games. He was named NL Player of the Week for the period of Sept. 16-22.
Seager tied Johnny Frederick (1930) and Shawn Green (2000) for the fifth-most doubles in a single season in Dodgers franchise history.
Assuming he is in the lineup Thursday, Seager will appear in his first postseason game since going 1-for-4 in Game 7 of the 2017 World Series.