The Dodgers want you to know they won the 2024 World Series. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
(Gina Ferazzi via Getty Images)
The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2024 World Series — and the MLB offseason. They are celebrating accordingly.
The defending champions celebrated their eighth title in franchise history on Thursday with their Dodger Stadium opener after beginning the season a week earlier in the Tokyo Series.
Already 2-0 in the standings, the Dodgers rolled out the blue carpet for their players, Shohei Ohtani included.
The team plans to present its World Series rings in a ceremony on Friday but did opt to hoist both a flag and a sign celebrating the 2024 title before the home opener Thursday against the Detroit Tigers.
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For the flag, the Dodgers went big, in both the size of the flag and the star power used to raise it. The ownership group, including sports legends Magic Johnson and Billie Jean King, raised a flag that will likely be looming over center field all season.
For the sign, the Dodgers had a pair of Los Angeles and Pasadena fire department captains make the unveiling, honoring the firefighters’ efforts to limit the damage of the wildfires that ravaged parts of Los Angeles during the offseason.
To present the actual trophy, the Dodgers turned once again to Ice Cube. The legendary rapper made his mark on the Dodgers’ championship with his pregame concert at Game 2 of the World Series, and he also performed at the team’s Dodger Stadium celebration following the World Series parade (with manager Dave Roberts as a backup dancer).
The most perfect moment might have been the first pitch, though.
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The biggest moment of the Dodgers’ World Series run was Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam in Game 1 against the New York Yankees. It was an almost eerie echo of what Kirk Gibson did in 1988, when a similarly hobbled slugger hit a walk-off homer in Game 1 of the World Series.
Naturally, the Dodgers had Gibson throw the first pitch to Freeman, “connecting the dots.”
That was Part 1 of the celebration. Part 2 will commence Friday with World Series rings, and you can bet the Dodgers have big plans for that as well.
