{"id":514320,"date":"2026-01-11T01:54:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T01:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/514320\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T01:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T01:54:13","slug":"freddie-freeman-announces-disappointing-news-for-team-canada-and-world-baseball-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/514320\/","title":{"rendered":"Freddie Freeman Announces Disappointing News for Team Canada and World Baseball Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Canada baseball fans are going to be heartbroken once again as Dodgers first baseman has announced that he will not be participating in the World Baseball Classic for Team Canada. The plan was for Team Canada to use Freeman as a Designated Hitter, but due to \u201cpersonal reasons,\u201d Freddie has withdrawn, leaving a gaping hole of veteran leadership and offensive output with his bat. <\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Some tough WBC news for Canada as Freddie Freeman withdraws for personal reasons. Dodgers star played in past two tourneys.<\/p>\n<p>Jordan Romano is out too, but on flip side, big boost for Canadian rotation as Jameson Taillon is in. Also now in are C Liam Hicks and INF Tyler Black.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShiDavidi\/status\/2010124041290485931?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">January 10, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>At 36 years old and coming off back to back World Series Championships with the Dodgers, it could be that Freddie just needs some rest. Team Canada hopes that players like Josh Naylor and Tyler O\u2019Neil will be able to fill in for Freeman\u2019s offense in a tough pool against Puerto Rico, Cuba, Panama and Columbia.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dodgersnation.com\/dodgers-freddie-freeman-appears-in-hilarious-commercial-with-young-blue-jays-fans\/2025\/12\/18\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Related: Freddie Freeman Kicked Out by Toronto Kids<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For those who don\u2019t know, Freddie Freeman is from California, but both his parents hold Canadian citizenship, so he has dual citizenship. Despite having Freeman in the roster in 2017 and 2023, Team Canada has not been able to pass the first round of the World Baseball Classic. <\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s just hope that \u201cpersonal reasons\u201d extends to just the health of his body. <\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"774\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Freddie-Freeman-Withdraws-from-2023-WBC.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-295673\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Will you be watching the World Baseball Classic? Who are going to be pulling for? <\/p>\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sab-icon\" src=\"https:\/\/dodgersnation.com\/path\/to\/app-icon.png\" alt=\"App icon\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"\/><\/p>\n<p>LA Baseball Report<\/p>\n<p>Get the app for faster news<\/p>\n<p>  <a id=\"sab-cta\" class=\"sab-cta\" href=\"#\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">GET<\/a><br \/>\n  \u00d7<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada baseball fans are going to be heartbroken once again as Dodgers first baseman has announced that he&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[5,39,815,1165,4332,4333,774,57,3224,4331,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-514320","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-dodgers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-dodgers","10":"tag-freddie-freeman","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-la-dodgers","13":"tag-ladodgers","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-losangelesdodgers","18":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115873976460844520","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}