PHOENIX — Freddie Freeman chose club over country Tuesday, the Dodgers first baseman pulling himself from Team Canada's World Baseball Classic game against Colombia because of a mild right hamstring injury rather than playing through the pain, a decision that wasn't as easy as it might have seemed.
"It was really tough," Freeman said Wednesday after receiving three hours of treatment at Camelback Ranch. "I apologized to [Canada coach] Greg Hamilton. I feel like I let them down. He obviously reassured me that I didn't, but that's just the way I feel."
Freeman, 33, chose to play for Canada, as he did in the 2017 WBC, to honor his late mother, Rosemary, who died of skin cancer when Freeman was 10. She was born and raised in Canada; he was raised in Southern California and starred at Orange El Modena High.
