{"id":244517,"date":"2025-10-22T21:45:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T21:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/244517\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T21:45:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T21:45:08","slug":"freeman-returns-to-his-canadian-roots-as-dodgers-face-blue-jays-in-toronto-to-open-world-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/244517\/","title":{"rendered":"Freeman returns to his Canadian roots as Dodgers face Blue Jays in Toronto to open World Series"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\"logo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

News – AP-National<\/p>\n

Freddie Freeman is returning to his family roots as the Los Angeles Dodgers open their World Series defense against the Blue Jays in Toronto on Friday.<\/p>\n

By BETH HARRISAP Sports Writer<\/p>\n

Freddie Freeman is returning his family roots when the Los Angeles Dodgers open defense of their World Series<\/a> championship against the Blue Jays in Toronto on Friday.<\/p>\n

The All-Star first baseman’s parents are from the province of Ontario; father Fred is from Windsor and late mother Rosemary<\/a> was from Peterborough, about 85 miles northwest of Toronto.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time I go back there,\u201d Freeman said, \u201cI feel a little bit closer to my mom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freeman was born in the Orange County city of Fountain Valley after his family relocated to California because of his father’s work.<\/p>\n

He was 10 when his 47-year-old mother died of melanoma \u2014 the most dangerous type of skin cancer because of its ability to spread to organs \u2014 in 2000. The All-Star first baseman wears long sleeves under his jersey during games as a silent tribute to her as well as to protect himself from the cancer that runs in the family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’d rather be hot for a few hours than go through chemotherapy,\u201d he told ESPN in 2023. <\/p>\n

Freeman holds dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship, and he chose to play for his mother’s home country in the World Baseball Classic in 2023 and 2017. <\/p>\n

“I was 8 years old and we were at an Angels game,\u201d Freeman told ESPN. \u201cI was eating popcorn and the Canadian national anthem is playing and I\u2019m sitting. (Then) it felt like someone just ripped me up. It felt like I was just hanging and it was my mom (who pulled me out of my seat). It\u2019s those little things that I remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

There’s usually an envelope waiting in Freeman’s locker in Toronto, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s always like a third cousin has found photos in their garage and they bring them to me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Freeman’s father will be on hand at Rogers Centre for Game 1, just as he was last year at Dodger Stadium. That’s when the younger Freeman gave his dad and Dodger fans a lifelong memory, belting a walk-off grand slam<\/a> in the Series opener.<\/p>\n

A jubilant Freeman ran over to find his dad in the front row and they touched through the protective netting. He was chosen Series MVP after the Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees for their eighth world title.<\/p>\n

Freeman carried the Dodgers last fall, especially against the Yankees. His struggles in these playoffs<\/a> have been offset by outstanding starting pitching. He’s batting .231 with one home run and five RBIs in nine postseason games. His 11 strikeouts in 39 at-bats are higher than his playoff career average.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s certainly seeing some really good pitching,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He\u2019s certainly not pleased with performance up to this point, but every time he gets in the box, I feel good. I expect him to really have a nice Series.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a whole country that\u2019s behind one team, that\u2019s pretty amazing,\u201d Freeman said. \u201cTo just see the city come together and get to experience so much jubilation, it\u2019s an exciting time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freeman was a favorite among Canadian fans during his WBC appearances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not so sure the Blue Jays fans will be cheering for me this time around,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"News – AP-National Freddie Freeman is returning to his family roots as the Los Angeles Dodgers open their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":["post-244517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}