Freeman

TORONTO — Freddie Freeman ignored the first call from the unknown number.

Then four text messages in a row came from someone claiming to be Ryan Reynolds, the Canadian-American actor.

“I don’t know if I believe this,” Freeman recounted Wednesday on the Rogers Centre field before the Dodgers’ series finale against the Blue Jays. “So I did a little digging.”

Through backchannels, he confirmed it was indeed Reynolds reaching out. So they set up a call, and Reynolds pitched Freeman on participating in the annual holiday video for SickKids Foundation, the fundraising arm of the Toronto children’s hospital.

Spoiler alert: Freeman agreed, and it went viral.

“It was special,” Freeman said. “Got to meet [a few of the kids], know their stories, and then obviously, hopefully raise a lot of funds.”

Freeman was the perfect candidate. The son of two Canadians, the Dodgers first baseman has represented the country playing for the national team. And he’s long supported children’s healthcare.

Though Freeman was a healthy child, he spent a lot of time in the hospital with his mom, Rosemary, who died from melanoma when he was 10 years old.

While playing for the Braves, Freeman got involved with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, hosting an annual “Freddie and Friends” fundraising lunch. And in recent years, his connection to children’s healthcare has become even more personal. In 2024, Freeman’s son, Maximus, then 3, was hospitalized with a severe case of a rare neurological condition called Guillain-Barré syndrome.

“Watching my mom go through her things, and living in hospitals, and having Max get sick, and knowing how important hospitals are for kids, and for people that work there — it’s not just the doctors, but there’s so many different other teams inside of a hospital that are working,” Freeman said. “So when you can help raise funds in a kind of a fun way, I jumped at it.”

The Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman looks on with his wife, Chelsea, and sons before a game against the Braves on April 18, 2022.

(Brian Rothmuller / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

It came together around Thanksgiving, just weeks removed from the Dodgers’ World Series win over the Blue Jays in a back-and-forth Game 7 in Toronto. So, of course, the video would play off of that.

“Ryan is so hilarious and fun,” Freeman said. “We had a great time. And it came out really good.”

The video opens with an introduction from Reynolds, who says that so many Canadians had offered to co-star in the annual video that there was a wait list. And it just so happened that this year, it was Freeman’s turn.

Cut to a hospital set, with a healthcare provider and three kids, one wearing a Blue Jays hat and another a team sweatshirt. In walks Freeman, to a chilling reception.

The kids pummel Freeman with insults and boos. And he even dodges what appears to be a teddy bear, before giving them a dejected nod and walking out.

Reynolds reappears.

“I asked him in March,” he says. “What are the odds?”

Of course, that’s not exactly how it happened.

The whole thing was shot in Southern California, Freeman said. The kids got a break from the Toronto winter, and were flown out with their families for filming. Freeman got to meet their parents.

“Those kids were actually the real kids in the hospital, and were doing better, and that’s what made it so fun,” Freeman said.

They were real Blue Jays fans. One of the kids had his prosthetic eye customized with the team logo. But they were also Canadian.

“They were always saying sorry after they said something mean to me,” Freeman said with a laugh.

The digs that made the final cut included: “You suck,” “You ruined everything,” and “Go back to your sunshine and traffic, you hoser.”

They were far more biting than the reception Freeman got at the Rogers Centre this week. Sure, the Dodgers got booed. But Freeman said on deck, he heard fans telling him to come home.

“Canada, everyone knows it’s very special to me,” Freeman said. “Every time I come here, I feel a little closer to my mom.”

She used to work in downtown Toronto, not far from the Rogers Centre. His dad would come meet her as she got off work. For Freeman, it’s a city of stories and memories.

Even in Game 1 of the World Series, Canadian fans cheered for him.

“I love it,” Freeman said of returning to Toronto. “Canadians are too nice. I don’t think they can be actually mean.”

That only happens in children’s hospital fundraising videos.

First baseman Freddie Freeman, pausing outside of the Dodgers’ home dugout to talk about the upcoming season, nodded his head toward the right-field foul pole, where just beyond it the Dodgers’ championships signs are displayed.

Eight baseball-shaped signs sported their years — 1955, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981, 1988, 2020, 2024 — while a ninth was still shielded by a blue cover, with plenty of room along the stadium’s club level for more.

“You want to just keep putting those banners up,” Freeman said. “That one’s blocked for a reason. You want to do it again. You want to keep doing it over and over and over again. And that’s what’s fun, and then that’s what makes everything else just take care of itself.”

The 2025 championship sign will be revealed as the Dodgers both celebrate last year’s achievements and set the tone for this year.

They’ll receive their World Series ring on Friday, but they’ll also be in the midst of playing three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“Everyone’s different,” Freeman said. “Some people want to move on and get on to the new season and not worry about last year. I’m one of the guys that can appreciate what we did last year, even in the present year.

“It’s hard to win a World Series. I don’t like to just kick it to the side. … Our fans haven’t celebrated it since the parade. We get to celebrate with our fans and open the weekend. It’s going to be a great time.”

Catcher Will Smith was more in the other camp.

“I get my ring, and I put it in the safe, and I don’t really look at it ever again,” he said when asked about the ring ceremony. “It brings back all the emotions from the prior year, you like showing friends and stuff, it’s cool. But no, for me, the motivation is just winning, being with these guys each and every day, and competing with them and working towards that goal.”

On that point, Dodgers players seem to agree.

They don’t need a tangible reminder of their World Series aspirations this year.

“It’ll be one of the few days where we really think about what we did last year, versus what we’re trying to do right now,” veteran third baseman Max Muncy said.

Plenty of teams say their goal is to win the World Series. But the Dodgers have raised their outside expectations, too. Entering Thursday, PECOTA put the Dodgers’ odds of completing a three-peat at 20.8%, by far the highest World Series chances in the majors. PECOTA, Baseball Prospectus’ projection system, listed the Mariners as next most likely to win the World Series, at 14.2%.

While those numbers establish a clear favorite, they also reflect how unpredictable the postseason can be. Even the Dodgers, with their lofty payroll and strong player development track record, will need health, luck, and the right mindset to pull off a third straight championship.

“You know what the goal is every single year, and that’s to be the last team standing at the end,” Mucy said. “But we more so preach, how do you get there, instead of that being the goal. And for us, it’s always been, you have to take it one day at a time.”

The phrase itself isn’t a novel concept. The trick is making that focus a reality, and a team standard.

“I talk about it every day,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I’ve talked about it since I got here. It’s just, let’s win a baseball game. That’s our mantra, and everyone in this building, that’s the goal.”

The veterans on the team preach it too, hoping to pass down that team-first focus to the generation coming behind them.

“When you put on this uniform, you come in here, you see all these superstars working extremely hard every single day — front office, ownership group doing the same thing — that’s the expectation,” Freeman said. “It’s a different standard, and you just want to be part of that standard that keeps the level high.”

After the commotion of the championship banner reveal and the ring presentation the first two days of the season, “let’s win a baseball game,” will continue to be the mantra.

Maybe it will even work well enough, day after day, for the Dodgers to add another sign to their championship display this time next year.