Dodgers star ready for emotional return to Canada for World Series

Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman saw the euphoria, tears and sheer elation throughout Canada when the Toronto Blue Jays pulled off their dramatic comeback victory Monday night in Game 7 to reach the World Series.

Certainly, a Blue Jays loss to the Seattle Mariners in the ALCS would have made life much easier for the Dodgers.  They would have had home-field advantage over Seattle in the World Series. They could have stayed home an extra four days. The plane flights would have been about two hours shorter.

Yet, Freeman will confess, it was awfully cool watching the crowd’s reaction to George Springer’s game-winning homer and seeing the tears running down Vladimir Guerrero’s cheeks.

Freeman will be wearing a different uniform when the World Series opens Friday at the Rogers Centre (8 p.m. ET on FOX), but he’s an awful proud Canadian, too. His parents were born and raised in Canada, and he knows the pride the country is feeling with the Blue Jays returning to the World Series for the first time since 1993.

“I mean, that’s special,’’ Freeman said before the Dodgers played an intrasquad game Tuesday at Dodger Stadium. “When you have a whole country that you know is behind one team, that’s pretty amazing.

“And then, obviously, what they’ve done. They’ve invested in their team, into that stadium, the visiting clubhouse, they’ve put a lot into the Toronto Blue Jays. So to just see the city come together, and get to experience so much jubilation that they had going to the World Series for the first time in 30-plus years, you know it’s an exciting time.

“And being from Canada, it’s pretty cool.’’

Freeman, who grew up in Orange County, California, has dual citizenship. Yet, Canada always has been dear to Freeman’s heart, particularly because of his late mom, who died from melanoma when Freeman was 10 years old. In the last two World Baseball Classics, Freeman chose to represent Canada, rather than play for Team USA.

Now, he’ll be playing in the World Series in front of fans who love him in Toronto, and those who adore him in Los Angeles. But this time around, those cheers might not be so boisterous.

“It’s going to be pretty special,’’ Freeman says. “I’m not so sure the Canadian fans, the Blue Jays fans, will be cheering for me this time around like I was in the WBC the last couple of times.

“But it is special. Every time I go there, you just have this feeling inside that you feel just a little bit closer to my mom. So I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited.’’

Freeman’s father, Fred, grew up in Windsor, just across the river from Detroit. He was a diehard Detroit Tigers fan, he said, with Al Kaline as his favorite player. It was his late wife, Rosemary, who was born and raised in Toronto, a Blue Jays fan,  before her family moved to Windsor when she was 16. She met Fred in Windsor, and married when Fred was 21.

Fred and his wife, Alma, will now fly to Toronto on Wednesday. They plan to visit friends they haven’t seen in ages, and Freddie figures he’ll meet new relatives that he didn’t know existed.

“Every time I go there I always get this little envelope in my locker,’’ Freeman said, “and it’s always like pictures from my third cousin who has found photos in their garage. And they bring them to me. So, I love to going back to Toronto.

“It’s a special place obviously for my family and I, and every time I go back there, I feel a little bit closer to my mom.’’

Freeman’s mother, Rosemary, is the reason he has chosen to represent Canada in the last two World Baseball Classic tournaments, believing it was his way to honor her on the ballfield.

“I’m not sure this is what she would want me to do,’’ Kershaw said at the last WBC, “but in my heart, this is what I feel I should be doing to honor her. I think she would be proud that I’m doing this. I think this is the right move to honor Rosemary Freeman.’’

It’s the same reason why Freeman still wears long sleeves under his uniform, and will do so again during the World Series, even with the games played at night and a retractable roof in Toronto.

“I’m fair skinned, so it protects me,’’ Freeman said, “but mostly, I do it to honor my Mom.’’

It’s unknown what kind of reception Freeman will receive Friday when he’s introduced before Game 1, but considering his popularity, the love he has shown for Canada, it’s hard to believe even the most diehard Blue Jays fans won’t show him respect. Now, once the game starts, and if Freeman hurts the Jays’ chances of winning their first World Series since 1993, it might be a different story.

“I’m a little confused, why?’’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, when asked if Toronto fans were expected to boo Freeman. “You know where he praises his country, he has played for Team Canada, he was traded here. So yeah, he’s a baseball player who loves the U.S., loves Canada, he’s a a heck of a player, even a better person.

“I don’t know what the Blue Jays fans have in store for him, but I don’t think he’ll be fazed by it.’’

The truth is that the entire Freeman family, Fred says, is eagerly looking forward to these games in Canada. If the Blue Jays win, they’ll end a 32-year championship drought. If the Dodgers win, they’ll become the first franchise in 25 years to win back-to back titles.

They’ll even be called a dynasty with 13 consecutive postseason berths, 12 division titles, five pennants and potentially their third World Series title since 2020.

In the words of Roberts, it would put the Dodgers “on a Mount Rushmore of sports organizations.’’

“I think it’s special,’’ Freeman said. “I think to be in that position it’s pretty amazing, to even be considered that. I mean you’re looking at obviously the Yankees, the Giants with three [titles] in five years. Just winning one is hard. So, as far as dynasty, I think if you can get three [titles] in a matter of five to six years, I guess you can say it is one.

“I think it’s the sustained winning that the Dodgers have done for so long, and then to cement that with some championships, if we do it, you can call it a modern-day dynasty.’’

Just pardon the good folks of Toronto, despite their affinity for Freeman, if they prefer not to see it.

Follow Bob Nightengale on X @Bnightengale.