We here at Blue Jays Central join the rest of the baseball community, and indeed the world, in sending our thoughts out to the victims of the devastating Palisades fire in Los Angeles.
MLB, other professional sports leagues, and 15 teams from the Los Angeles area are organizing LA Strong, with proceeds going to directly to the American Red Cross and Los Angeles Fire Department
Dodgers 1st baseman, Canadian superstar, and fan favourite Freddie Freeman and his wife Chelsea are also chipping in. Freeman grew up in California and was a childhood fan of the Los Angeles Angels. He also currently has a home in Studio City. It's an area he knows well.
The Freemans have made three separate donations of $100,000 each for a total of $300K. Additionally, Chelsea Freeman also shared on her instagram that she was matching donations given to Pasadena Humane.
Major League Baseball as well as professional sports as a whole, has always been very good in times of need, whether it's natural disasters, player tragedy, public unrest, and even 9/11. Baseball has always been there.
According to the L.A. Times, these wildfires are likely to go down as one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history, with economic losses projected to total tens of billions of dollars.
If you would like to make a donation to support the LA Fire victims, please contact the American Red Cross. There are also several fundraisers up and running on GoFundMe. A list of resources can be found here in the LA Times.