A blizzard of blue confetti enveloped a motorcade of open-top buses ferrying players on a slow crawl through downtown Los Angeles, two days after the team’s epic World Series win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Huge throngs of fans who had begun taking up positions before dawn lined the route, with city officials saying they expected the crowd size to eclipse last year’s victory parade, when more than 200,000 fans turned out to acclaim the team.
The Dodgers became the first side in 25 years to win back-to-back Major League Baseball championships on Saturday when they defeated the Blue Jays 5-4 in a thrilling duel to clinch the franchise’s ninth World Series crown.
The win was the Dodgers’ third World Series title since 2020, confirming the star-studded team as modern baseball’s latest dynasty.
Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani – who has now won two World Series titles since joining the Dodgers ahead of the 2024 season – said he hopes to be celebrating a hat-trick of titles next year.
“It’s really nice to be able to win the championship and to be surrounded by all these amazing fans,” Ohtani said. “I’m already thinking about the third time we’re going to do this next year.”
Monday’s parade, which was to be followed by a sold-out celebration at the team’s Dodger Stadium later, was also a moment for veteran pitcher Clayton Kershaw to sign off in style.
Kershaw, a future Hall-of-Famer, announced his retirement from baseball in the final weeks of the regular season after 18 years with the Dodgers.
The hero of the Dodgers series win – Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto – also basked in the applause following his game seven heroics.
Yamamoto was named World Series Most Valuable Player on Saturday after emerging from the bullpen to close out victory from the mound, just a day after throwing 96 pitches in a series-tying game six win on Friday.
“I love being able to share this with my team-mates,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter. “I need to say a big thank to my team-mates.”
Yamamoto added he had almost been too tired to lift his MVP award on Saturday. “It was too heavy,” Yamamoto said. (AFP)
