LA Dodgers superstar and three-time World Series champion Freddie Freeman has mysteriously pulled out of the World Baseball Classic for ‘personal reasons’.
The first baseman was due to represent Canada for the third successive tournament in March, but he will no longer play in the international competition weeks before the start of the 2026 Major League Baseball season.
The news was first reported by Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi, who wrote on X: ‘Some tough WBC news for Canada as Freddie Freeman withdraws for personal reasons. Dodgers star played in past two tourneys.’
No more detailed reasoning has been given for Freeman’s decision, but it comes a year after his three-year-old son Max was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that left him with full-body paralysis.
Freeman’s son spent time in the pediatric ICU and his wife Chelsea provided regular updates to the public as the family dealt with significant challenges behind closed doors.
Eventually, Max regained mobility and reflexes and ahead of the 2025 season Chelsea said he is ’80 percent recovered’.
Freddie Freeman will not represent Canada in this year’s World Baseball ClassicÂ
The Freeman family suffered a serious health scare when Max, then 3, was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder Â
It is unclear whether Max’s health is among the reasons for Freeman’s withdrawal from the WBC, but it would be no surprise to see him want to spend more time with his family ahead of a grueling 162-game Dodgers season in 2026.
Max’s heartbreaking diagnosis is not the only family health struggles Freeman has endured, after his mother tragically passed away from cancer when he was 10, six years after she was first diagnosed with melanoma and had initially beat it.
Freeman, meanwhile, has also been struggling with injury in recent weeks – another potential factor in his decision to pull out.Â
Freeman has pulled out of the World Baseball Classic for unspecified ‘personal reasons’Â
In December, coaches told Baseball Canada that Freeman was dealing with ‘a little bit of a health issue’ but ‘he really wants to play’.
Canada manager Ernie Whitt also revealed that Freeman was ‘having some procedures done’, but the exact issues he is suffering are still unknown.
In the 2025 season, he did struggle with a lingering ankle injury from the previous year – but it did not hamper his progress too badly as he earned another World Series ring with the Dodgers.Â
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Baseball superstar Freddie Freeman pulls out of WBC for ‘personal reasons’ a year on from son’s major health scare