Will Smith became the second confirmed Los Angeles Dodgers participant in the 2026 World Baseball as he was named to the Team USA roster on Tuesday.
Smith joins Shohei Ohtani, who previously announced that he will play for Team Japan as the country looks to repeat as champions in the international competition. The Dodgers will likely have more representatives in the 2026 WBC as Yoshinobu Yamamoto figures to be formally named to the Samurai Japan roster as well.
But despite Roki Sasaki being included on Team Japan’s preliminary roster, he doesn’t appear likely to participate in the international tournament after all.
Meanwhile, Freddie Freeman has interest in playing for Team Canada but health may prevent him from doing so, via Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet:
Freddie Freeman wants to play for Canada at the WBC per Greg Hamilton & Ernie Whitt of Baseball Canada.
Freeman dealing with "a little bit of a health issue" after the wear and tear of a long season per Hamilton but "he does want to do it, he really wants to play."
— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) December 9, 2025
Canadian baseball manager Ernie Whitt did not share details of Freeman’s status but hinted that he may be undergoing some procedures in the coming weeks. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said he didn’t believe Freeman would require any such action.
One could speculate that a potential operation might be on Freeman’s right ankle, which already underwent surgery after the 2024 World Series.
Freeman played in just three games to begin the 2025 season before going on the 10-day injured list with a right ankle sprain as he aggravated it after slipping in a shower at home. Freeman otherwise was relatively healthy this year and played in 147 games for the second consecutive year.
Freddie Freeman’s stats in 2023 World Baseball Classic
Freeman previously played for Team Canada in the 2023 WBC and went 2-for-10 with one RBI, one walk and three runs scored in three games.
Canada finished pool play with a 2-2 record and did not advance to the quarterfinals.
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