{"id":551439,"date":"2026-02-03T02:10:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T02:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/551439\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T02:10:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T02:10:19","slug":"freddie-freeman-reveals-personal-situation-kept-him-out-of-wbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/551439\/","title":{"rendered":"Freddie Freeman Reveals Personal Situation Kept Him Out of WBC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman is <a href=\"https:\/\/dodgersnation.com\/freddie-freeman-announces-disappointing-news-for-team-canada-and-world-baseball-classic\/2026\/01\/10\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">set to miss the 2026 World Baseball Classic<\/a>, and elaborated on the personal reason as to why he won\u2019t be at the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>Freeman also said Team Canada \u2014 for whom he has played in both of the last two WBC tournaments \u2014supported his decision in withdrawing for the tournament. The veteran\u2019s parents are both from Ontario, Canada, so he is eligible to represent the team due to his dual citizenship.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wasn\u2019t (going to be) able to go out there and play and be in Puerto Rico (for the group stage games) and be that far from my family,\u201d Freeman said. \u201cI needed to be close to California.\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ByJackHarris\/status\/2017710938758213866\" rel=\"nofollow\"><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Freddie Freeman said he is not playing in the WBC because of a personal situation. He said Team Canada was supportive<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wasn\u2019t (going to be) able to go out there and play and be in Puerto Rico (for the group stage games) and be that far from my family. I needed to be close to\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ByJackHarris\/status\/2017710938758213866?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">January 31, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dodgersnation.com\/freddie-freeman-reveals-retirement-timeline-following-dodgers-contract\/2026\/01\/31\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Freeman<\/a> is a native of the Los Angeles area, having spent his adolescence in Orange County. Team Canada is in Pool A of the WBC, and will play all of their group stage games in San Juan, Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Freddie-Freeman-Team-Canada.jpg\" alt=\"Freddie Freeman representing team Canada against Great Britain in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.\" class=\"wp-image-297587\"  \/>Mar 12, 2023; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Team Canada infielder Freddie Freeman (5) celebrates after scoring a run with infielder Edouard Julien (15) against Team Great Britain during the third inning at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Zachary BonDurant-USA TODAY SportsHow Did Freddie Freeman Perform in his Previous WBC Appearances?<\/p>\n<p>Freeman\u2019s first WBC appearance came with Team Canada in 2017, playing three games during the tournament. He had two singles in 11 at-bats for an even .182\/.182\/.182 slash line.<\/p>\n<p>The All-Star came back in 2023, though he also struggled in his return to the world stage. He batted .200 with three runs, posting a .473 OPS. He suffered a hamstring injury in a game against Team Columbia, but managed to return to the team before the beginning of the regular season.<\/p>\n<p>Team Canada didn\u2019t advance past the group stage in either of the two tournaments.<\/p>\n<p>Will Freddie Freeman Be Available for the Dodgers at the Beginning of the Season?<\/p>\n<p>While Freeman has publicly announced he won\u2019t be participating in the WBC, he hasn\u2019t given any notion that he won\u2019t be ready to go come the beginning of the regular season.<\/p>\n<p>Freeman has historically been reliable during the regular season, playing at least 100 games in each of the last 15 seasons excluding 2020.<\/p>\n<p>The first baseman is a key player for the Dodgers, and has been fantastic since arriving ahead of the 2022 season. During his four-year tenure in L.A., he has 96 home runs and 381 RBIs while boasting a .907 OPS through 614 games.<\/p>\n<p>The Dodgers will hope he can come back as strong as ever during the regular season as they chase another World Series title.<\/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> \u00d7<br \/>    <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman is set to miss the 2026 World Baseball Classic, and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551440,"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-551439","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\/116004273890104616","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551439","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=551439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}