Freddie Freeman withdraws from World Baseball Classic

Freddie Freeman will not be playing in the World Baseball Classic this March.

Freeman, 36, has withdrawn from representing Canada in the tournament for “personal reasons,” Sportsnet reported on Saturday.

Relief pitcher Jordan Romano is also ruled out of the tournament, per the outlet.

With Freeman absent, Mariners first baseman Josh Naylor will likely start in the former MVP’s place during the tournament.

It’s unclear what exactly prompted Freeman to drop from the WBC, but the first baseman has previously indicated that he wanted to play for Team Canada in the spring but was dealing with “a little bit of a health issue,” Baseball Canada said in December.

The Athletic also reported that despite Freeman wanting to participate, Canada manager Ernie Whitt said that it was not set that he could play, and that he was having “some procedures done.”

The exact details of Freeman’s health issues are unknown, but the nine-time All-Star did suffer a few injuries this past MLB season, including lingering ankle problems that carried over from his 2024 season.

Freeman — who is from California but holds Canadian citizenship through his parents — has represented Canada twice in his professional baseball career during the 2017 and 2023 WBCs.

Despite injuries, Freeman put up an impressive 2025 campaign for the Dodgers, posting a slash line of .295/.367/.502 along with 39 doubles and 24 home runs, and helped Los Angeles capture its second straight World Series title.

Back in December, Freeman opened up about what it meant for him to win the World Series in Canada, referencing his late mother, who is from Toronto, as to what made the experience so special for him.

“Every time I go back to Toronto, I always have little butterflies in my stomach because it’s a place where my mom grew up, was born and raised, worked in office buildings in downtown Toronto and things like that,” Freeman said during an appearance on the “6-1-1 Podcast.” “So you just feel a little bit closer to her, and I always seem to play pretty well when I go up there. It’s not about playing well, it’s about, ‘Man, this is cool. I’m in a place where my mom was 50, 60 years ago.’

“It’s just those little moments and it takes your mind off what you’re trying to do and what you face. It’s, ‘This is cool. I’m in a place where my mom grew up.’ To be honest, when we won it there, I didn’t think, ‘Oh, I just won in my mom and dad’s home country.’ It was, we won.”