Freddie Freeman has endured the most frustrating year in his time with the Dodgers, although a .303 batting average would say otherwise.

Freeman began the year leading the National League with a .374 batting average after May 31. Once June began, his batting average began to decline drastically to the tune of a .200 average in June and a combined .226 average between June and July. His power evaporated during this time, as he hit just two home runs between May 12 and July 31 after smashing nine beforehand.

His lack in production correlated with the Dodgers’ losing ways in the month of July, but both the team and Freeman have put together a much better month of August. Freeman’s batting average on the year still ranks second on the team behind Will Smith, the current leader for the batting title. He admitted that being in the conversation for the batting title means he’s still having a good season despite the mid-season struggles, notes Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.

“That makes me smile because it means I grinded through it and even when I didn’t feel good I was still able to be on the field and maybe throw some hits out there,” Freeman said. “That’s how I look at it. If you’re talking to me about a batting title at the end of August, that means I had a good year.”

After winning their first six games against the Colorado Rockies this season, the Dodgers could only manage a four-game series split at Coors Field before another highly anticipated series against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.

Although the Dodgers only took two out of four games against the worst team in baseball, Clayton Kershaw acknowledged that wins aren’t guaranteed, and the team will try to ride the high of their win in the series finale this upcoming weekend, per Kevin Baxter of the Los Angeles Times.

“You can’t take anything for granted in Colorado, obviously,” he said. “But at the end of the day, we’re [one] up going in [to San Diego]. So we feel good about it.”

Dave Roberts spoke about the energy the Padres will bring against them in the final season series against the Dodgers, with an insistence on playing as well as they did in their previous series against them, per Manny Randhawa of MLB.com.

“I feel good about our club going into San Diego… We’ve obviously played well against those guys this year. They’re going to give us everything they have this weekend and we’ve got to be ready for it.”