The Los Angeles Dodgers enjoyed a party that was more than three decades in the making on Friday as they celebrated their World Series win over the New York Yankees with an open-top bus parade through downtown Los Angeles before a pep rally at Dodger Stadium.
Around 250,000 people packed onto the streets, their Dodgers jerseys creating a sea of blue among the concrete roads and buildings as they waved and cheered while the team went past on open-top buses.
They watched as superstar Shohei Ohtani held aloft his dog Decoy – who wore a No. 17 Dodgers jersey with a parade access pass clipped to his collar, and later stood patiently while being petted by young fans.
Once the parade made its way to the sun-drenched field of the Dodger Stadium, Ohtani addressed the 42,000 fans there.
“This is so special,” he said in English as his teammates cheered behind him. “I’m just so honored to be here and to be part of this team. Congratulations, Los Angeles, thank you fans.”
More than three decades have passed since the Los Angeles Dodgers last enjoyed a victory parade as their last World Series win came in 2020, when any celebrations were snuffed out by the Covid-19 pandemic, and their last win before that came in 1988.
It seemed like most of the city was on the streets, some had even climbed fences or traffic lights for a better vantage point, some had decorated windows on the parade route, others waved flags, scarves and handkerchiefs.
Inside the Dodger Stadium, rapper Ice Cube kicked off the party by perfoming “It’s a Good Day” while manager Dave Roberts danced along and hyped up the crowd before the players, their families and staff joined them in the middle.
As each player addressed the crowd, they were greeted with a raucous cheer, especially World Series MVP Freddie Freeman who hit his way into the history books this week, just three months after he had to leave the team to care for his three-year-old son Max, who was seriously ill at the time.
“What’s up LA,” he shouted as he walked onto the podium and the crowd started chanting his name.
“I only had one leg but I got a whole group of guys that had my back all year,” he said, referencing that he was nursing a sprained ankle coming into the World Series.
“From the bottom of my heart, three months ago … when you guys, when I came back after my son got sick, you guys showed out for my family and I. That was one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had on the field. I was so touched. I did everything I could to get on this field for you guys, and I’m glad I did because we’ve got a championship now.”
Freeman’s son Max was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome – a rare neurological disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks nerve cells – earlier this year. In July, Max went into full paralysis and Freeman left the Dodgers to be with his family at the hospital. Eventually, doctors said that his son would make a recovery and Freeman rejoined the team in August.
Freeman’s family joined him for both the victory parade and the celebration in the stadium on Friday.
The celebrations took place on what would have been Fernando Valenzuela’s 64th birthday. The legendary Dodgers pitcher died last month and was honored with a uniform patch displaying his name and number during the World Series. On Friday night too, LA’s City Hall was illuminated in green, white, red and blue, combining the Mexican flag with the Dodgers’ blue, in honor of Valenzuela.