LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Dodgers star Freddie Freeman’s continued recovery from offseason ankle surgery has taken a misstep.

Freeman was scrubbed from his usual spot in the Dodgers’ lineup Monday against the Atlanta Braves after the former MVP tweaked his right ankle in a “mishap” in his shower at home, manager Dave Roberts said. The reigning World Series MVP is “day to day,” Roberts said, and isn’t expected to miss significant time.

“He thought he could play today,” Roberts said.

Freeman underwent surgery in November to address the ankle, which he severely sprained during the final week of the regular season in September and played through during the Dodgers’ World Series run through October. The swelling in the area never subsided, prompting surgery to clean up bone spurs that had traveled dangerously close to his Achilles tendon. Testing revealed he’d also damaged ligaments in the ankle, though those had healed.

Still, Freeman was largely a full participant in spring training after being cleared for game action. He missed both regular-season games in Tokyo against the Chicago Cubs with a separate injury issue — he aggravated the rib cartilage he tore during the postseason run — but returned to play in all three games at Dodger Stadium against the Detroit Tigers, going 3-for-12 with two home runs and a double.

The ankle was still not at full strength before this incident, Roberts said, though Freeman had set out to play without a wrap on it to stabilize things.

“It wasn’t 100 percent, but still, obviously the way he swung the bat — he was in a good spot,” Roberts said.

This is the first time the ankle has bubbled up enough to cause him to miss games this season, though Freeman did miss multiple games during the Dodgers’ postseason run last year. Now it’ll cost Freeman at least one game against his former team.

“Came in yesterday for treatment,” Roberts said. “Feels better. He feels that he could go out there and play, but just the upside/downside, doing the math, just let him recoup today, and we’ll see how he is tomorrow.”

For the sake of rinsing themselves of the issue long-term, the Dodgers will exercise caution.

(Photo: Harry How / Getty Images)