Gonzalez rejoins Dodgers after trip

Sidelined veteran first baseman returns from Italy, plans to stick around through series.

Two days after returning from Italy, sidelined first baseman Adrian Gonzalez rejoined the Dodgers with plans of remaining with the team for the remainder of the World Series.

Gonzalez has kept his distance from the Dodgers this postseason, watching their National League division series from his Los Angeles-area home and Championship Series from Italy. He was in the El Segundo studio of the Dodgersowned SportsNet LA for Game 1 of the World Series.

Limited to 71 games this year because of back problems, Gonzalez, 35, was ruled out by the Dodgers for the playoffs in the final week of the regular season. He said he decided to watch the division series from home because he didn’t want to be a distraction.

“People were going to be like, ‘Oh, doesn’t it suck?’ ” he said. “My whole thing is, avoiding this, avoiding the article.

“Then they swept the division series, so I’m like, OK, we’re all superstitious guys, it’s a superstitious sport. I don’t want to show up and all of a sudden they lose and be like, ‘Oh, man, I’m bad luck.’ ”

Gonzalez said he asked the Dodgers for permission to help his wife and two daughters move to Italy. His wife is taking a five-month shoe design course in Milan. Gonzalez plans to spend the winter there.

He was in Italy for about a week and returned to Los Angeles on Monday.

“Coming back, I was having reservations about coming, but then, obviously, it’s the World Series and talking to Justin [Turner] and talking to [Yasiel] Puig, they were like, ‘We want you to be here,’ ” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez was in the Dodgers clubhouse Wednesday, watched the team take batting practice on the field and planned to watch the game from a suite at Dodger Stadium. He is scheduled to travel with the team for the games in Houston this weekend.

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com Twitter: @dylanohernandez