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Commentary: Apple's documentary on Dodgers provides 'all-access' look at World Series run

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Commentary: Apple's documentary on Dodgers provides 'all-access' look at World Series run

In 2018, toward the end of a decade in which Mike Trout was the best player in baseball, Major League Baseball reckoned with its failure to transform him into a national icon. Commissioner Rob Manfred inelegantly but bluntly suggested why the league had struggled to market Trout.

“Player marketing requires one thing for sure: the player,” Manfred said then.

The Angels shot back at Manfred, with a statement — crafted in part by owner Arte Moreno — that vigorously defended Trout: “We applaud him for prioritizing his personal values over commercial self-promotion.”

Neither Trout nor any other player owes his team or the league anything more than his best effort on the field. However, the better fans get to know their favorite players as personalities, the easier for the league to broaden its appeal beyond the diehards.

This is nothing new. Half a century ago, ABC used its trademark “Up Close and Personal” segments to get Americans invested in anonymous Olympic athletes.

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In that sense, Apple’s documentary on the 2024 World Series is a hit. The three-part series called “Fight for Glory” premieres Thursday on Apple TV+.

There are no major revelations here. It is all about the celebration of a marquee World Series — The Dodgers! The New York Yankees! MLB owns the copyright to the documentary, and Manfred is listed in the credits.

Also listed in the credits: Chelsea Freeman, wife of Freddie; and Brianna Betts, wife of Mookie. Camera crews followed the families of the Dodgers stars: on the drive to the games, in the stands during the games, around the team after the games, and even at home.

Apple put cameras wherever it could and put microphones on as many people as it could, including managers and coaches, umpires, broadcasters, and reporters. Jack Harris, who covers the Dodgers for The Times, welcomed a camera operator into his car and did an interview as he drove to Dodger Stadium.

Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts, left, and first baseman Freddie Freeman share a laugh during a game against the Cleveland Guardians in August 2023.

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(Nick Cammett / Associated Press)

Freeman is as open with the media as any player in the league, and Betts already has made his mark in the media world. His budding media empire includes a podcast and a YouTube channel. He used the former as a forum for teammates to review the World Series experience and how the Yankees collapsed in the series, and he used the latter to invite fans to see the Dodgers’ World Series championship celebration through his eyes.

In this genre of the “all access” documentary, Freeman and Betts are about as good as it gets in attracting casual fans — the ones not interested in exit velocities or launch angles, but invested in human interest stories.

Betts’ mother tells the story of how her son tried out for his first youth baseball team, complete with his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles glove, and left in tears after the coach said he was not good enough to make the team.

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Freeman’s son Max woke up with a limp one day in July and, by the end of the day, was in a hospital and on a ventilator. He had been diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome.

“I lost my mom to cancer when I was 10 years old, which is awful,” Freeman said. “But when you see your son fighting for his own life at 3 years old? You just don’t think that is going to ever happen.”

Freeman left the Dodgers. Only after Max was discharged — after eight days in the hospital, and on the road to recovery — did Freeman return to the team.

“I would not have come back this year if he had stayed sick,” Freeman said.

On the drive to Dodger Stadium for Game 1 of the World Series, hours after her husband already had arrived there, Chelsea Freeman said: “It’s pretty crazy to see how rock bottom we were a few months ago. And then now to be going to the World Series is pretty surreal.”

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And then her husband hit home runs in each of the first four games, en route to earning World Series most valuable player honors.

Before the first game, Chelsea Freeman said his treasured necklace — the one with a strand of hair from his late mother within a cross — had broken. He always played wearing that necklace.

“We had to overnight it to the jeweler,” Chelsea Freeman said.

The instantly legendary home run Freeman hit to win Game 1 — the first walkoff grand slam in World Series history, the one that prompted the “Gibby, meet Freddie!” call from Joe Davis — is presented to viewers in slo-mo, followed by a variety of angles, and almost predictably accompanied by the music from “The Natural.”

The fly ball dropped by Aaron Judge — the most memorable moment from the Yankees’ festival of errors in the fifth inning of the clinching game — is presented here with quick cuts. In five seconds, from five vantage points, Judge drops the ball five times.

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If you are a Yankees fan, you probably have no interest in revisiting that moment, or the Series as a whole. If you are a Dodgers fan, you probably do.

The three-part documentary lasts a combined three hours, which is asking a lot of viewers. The series only lasted five games.

If you are a Dodgers fan, at least, you get the championship ending. If you are a Yankees fan, well, you get to see one of your own warning Dodgers fans not to approach him at Yankee Stadium.

“Anybody wearing Dodgers,” he said, “is getting a wedgie.”

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Trump support drove wedge between former Mets star teammates, says sports radio star Mike Francesa

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Trump support drove wedge between former Mets star teammates, says sports radio star Mike Francesa

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New York sports radio icon Mike Francesa claims differing views on President Donald Trump created a divide within the Mets clubhouse. 

Francesa said on his podcast Tuesday that a feud between shortstop Francisco Lindor and outfielder Brandon Nimmo, who was recently traded to the Texas Rangers, was ignited by politics. Francesa did not disclose which player supported Trump and which didn’t. 

“The Nimmo-Lindor thing, my understanding, was political, had to do with Trump,” Francesa said. “One side liked Trump, one side didn’t like Trump.”

 

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New York Mets’ Francisco Lindor (12) gestures to teammates after hitting an RBI single during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in New York City. (Frank Franklin II/AP Photo)

Francesa added, “So, Trump splitting up between Nimmo and Lindor. That’s my understanding. It started over Trump… As crazy as that sounds, crazier things have happened.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Mets for a response.

DODGERS LAND ALL-STAR CLOSER IN RECORD-BREAKING DEAL AFTER BACK-TO-BACK WORLD SERIES WINS: REPORTS

New York Mets’ Francisco Lindor (12) and Brandon Nimmo (9) celebrate after a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers on June 27, 2023, in New York City. The Mets won 7-2. (Frank Franklin II/AP Photo)

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Nimmo was traded to the Rangers on Nov. 23 after waiving the no-trade clause in his 8-year, $162 million contract earlier that month. 

The trade of Nimmo has been just one domino in a turbulent offseason for the Mets, which has also seen the departure of two other fan-favorites, first baseman Pete Alonso and closer Edwin Diaz. 

All three players had been staples in the Mets’ last two playoff teams in 2022 and 2024, playing together as the team’s core dating back to 2020.

Brandon Nimmo #9 of the New York Mets celebrates an RBI single against the Philadelphia Phillies during the eighth inning in Game One of the Division Series at Citizens Bank Park on Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (Heather Barry/Getty Images)

In return for Nimmo, the Rangers sent second baseman Marcus Semien to the Mets. Nimmo is 32 years old and is coming off a year that saw him hit a career-high in home runs with 25, while Semien is 35 and hit just 15 homers in 2025. 

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Many of the MLB’s high-profile free agents have already signed this offseason. The remaining players available include Kyle Tucker, Cody Bellinger, Bo Bichette and Framber Valdez. 

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FIFA responds to fan outrage, establishes new World Cup ticket tier with $60 prices

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FIFA responds to fan outrage, establishes new World Cup ticket tier with  prices

FIFA announced an affordable admission pricing tier for every nation that’s qualified for the 2026 World Cup co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The supporter entry tier will make tickets available at a fixed price of $60 for every match, including the final, for each nation’s participating members associations.

The new tier comes after supporters’ groups from Europe called out FIFA on the dynamic pricing of tickets, which changes the value based on the popularity of the teams playing in each match.

“In total, 50% of each PMA allocation will fall within the most affordable range, namely supporter value tier (40%) and the supporter entry tier (10%),” FIFA said in a statement on Tuesday. “The remaining allocation is split evenly between the supporter standard tier and the supporter premier tier.”

FIFA will also waive the administrative fees for fans who secure participating member association tickets. But if their teams do not advance, they can seek refunds.

Tickets sales were rolled out by FIFA in phases, with a third of the tournament’s inventory claimed during the first two phases. The third phase started on Dec. 11 and will go through to Jan. 13. During this period, fans have the opportunity to allocate tickets for a match based on a random selection draw.

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Before the new tier was introduced, the cheapest ticket for the World Cup final in MetLife Stadium in New Jersey would cost fans more than $4,000. The high prices raised concerns among European supporters.

“The prices set for the 2026 World Cup are scandalous, a step too far for many supporters who passionately and loyally follow their national sides at home and abroad,” the FSA, an organization of supporters for England and Wales, said in a statement posted on its website on Dec. 12. “Everything we feared about the direction in which FIFA wants to take the game was confirmed — Gianni Infantino only sees supporter loyalty as something to be exploited for profit.”

FIFA previously stated it adopted the variable pricing because it was common practice for major North America sporting events.

“What FIFA is doing is adapting to the domestic market,” a FIFA official said in the conference call. “It’s a reality in the U.S. and Canada that events are being priced as per the demand that is coming in for that event.”

A FIFA official told reporters before the first tickets went on sale that world soccer’s governing body expects to make more than $3 billion from hospitality and tickets sales and is confident the tournament will break the all-time World Cup attendance record set in 1994, the last time the men’s competition was held in the U.S.

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That 1994 World Cup featured just 24 teams and 52 matches. The 2026 tournament will be twice as large, with 48 teams and 104 games.

FIFA said it received 20 million requests during the random selection draw sales.

SoFi Stadium will host eight matches, beginning with the U.S. opener against Paraguay on June 12. The Americans will finish group play in Inglewood on June 25, playing the winner of a March playoff involving Slovakia, Kosovo, Turkey and Romania. Two Group G matches — Iran versus New Zealand on June 15 and Iran-Belgium on June 21 — also will be played in SoFi, sandwiched around a Group B match between Switzerland and the winner of another European playoff, this one featuring Wales, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy and Northern Ireland.

The teams for the three knockout-stage games to be played at SoFi Stadium — round-of-32 games on June 28 and July 2 and a quarterfinal on July 10 — haven’t been determined, but the possibilities include Mexico, South Korea, Canada, Spain, Austria and Algeria.

Staff writer Kevin Baxter contributed to this report.

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Titans star Jeffery Simmons calls burglars ‘f—ing cowards’ after home break-in during game vs 49ers

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Titans star Jeffery Simmons calls burglars ‘f—ing cowards’ after home break-in during game vs 49ers

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Tennessee Titans star defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons ripped into those who burglarized his home while he played against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

There were “at least six suspects” who burglarized Simmons’ Nashville home, which came shortly after 7 p.m., the Metro Nashville Police Department told ESPN.

That was the exact time frame the Titans were facing the 49ers in the Bay Area.

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Jeffery Simmons of the Tennessee Titans looks on during halftime against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Nissan Stadium on Nov. 30, 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Jeff Dean/Getty Images)

“What if any of my family members was in my house??” Simmons wrote on social media while showing security camera footage of the burglars trying to enter his home. “All that materialistic s—- you can have but this is crazy!”

Simmons also called the burglars “f—ing cowards,” though he was complimentary of the Metro Nashville PD.

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“I want to extend my sincere appreciation to the Metro Nashville Police Department and the Titans’ security team for their professionalism and swift response,” Simmons said in a statement. “Their dedication to ensuring the safety of our entire Nashville community does not go unnoticed. I remain thankful for God’s protection and grace.”

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The suspects were said to have gained entry to Simmons’ home “after smashing out window glass,” while “multiple items were taken” in the process.

It’s unclear exactly what was taken from Simmons’ home.

Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons (98) reacts after sacking Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (not pictured) during the fourth quarter at Huntington Bank Field on Dec. 7, 2025. (Scott Galvin/Imagn Images)

Meanwhile, Simmons was able to find the end zone despite the loss to the 49ers, so a good personal performance came to a screeching halt once he found out the news.

But unfortunately, Simmons isn’t the only NFL star who has been burglarized while playing a game.

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Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce had it happen last season, as did Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. All of those burglaries were in connection with a South American theft group that was specifically targeting NFL and NBA players.

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Cleveland Browns rookie Shedeur Sanders also saw $200,000 worth of property taken from his residence while they were playing the Baltimore Ravens earlier this season.

The Titans’ security team said it is “actively working” with local police to recover the stolen items.

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