L.A. toasts its World Series champion Dodgers: ‘The city needed this parade’
Many of them spent four years dreaming of it. Others had waited their whole baseball lives.
Two days after winning the World Series, and four years removed from a 2020 title that never was properly christened, the Dodgers celebrated with all of Los Angeles on Friday, parading through the streets of downtown on open-top double-decker buses before holding a championship rally in front of a packed Dodger Stadium.
Close to a quarter-million people were estimated to be lining the streets along the parade route, packed dozens of rows deep from City Hall to the Walt Disney Concert Hall to the procession’s endpoint at Fifth and Flower.
One arrest made and two injuries reported during Dodgers’ victory parade
During Friday’s parade, one man was arrested for throwing a glass bottle at a police officer, who wasn’t injured, and there was also one reported use of force by an officer, said LAPD Cmdr. Steve Lurie.
Separately, two injuries were reported — including a man who fell off a three-story parking garage at 8th and Flower streets.
The man was accompanying a group scrawling graffiti, according to Lurie, and suffered a head injury, but survived.
Clayton Kershaw revels in his first World Series parade, reveals additional injury
Clayton Kershaw wasn’t expecting manager Dave Roberts to hand him the microphone during the Dodger Stadium portion of Friday’s World Series celebration, because, as the 36-year-old left-hander said afterward, “My role was pretty limited.”
But as the three-time National League Cy Young Award winner and longest-tenured Dodger began to address a rollicking crowd of 42,458, he was surprised how quickly his emotions came to the fore.
Hernández: Freddie Freeman will forever be the name and face of the Dodgers’ 2024 championship
Freddie Freeman was welcomed on Friday to the rest of his life.
From the second level of the double-decker bus he rode with teammates, Freeman looked out at a world that wasn’t the same as it was before.
Before the Dodgers won the World Series. Before he hit that home run.
Dodger Stadium was rocking when players walked onto the field for a post-parade celebration. The decibel level increased by several orders of magnitude when the video scoreboards displayed the image of Freeman with his son in his arms.
‘Happy birthday, Fernando!’ Fans call for Valenzuela statue at Dodger Stadium
Fernando Valenzuela would have turned 64 on Friday.
The left-handed pitcher who sparked “Fernandomania” and helped the Dodgers defeat the New York Yankees in the 1981 World Series died Oct. 22. Eight days later, the 2024 Dodgers clinched another World Series title by beating the Yankees. The team’s victory parade was also Friday in downtown Los Angeles, followed by a celebration at Dodger Stadium.
Photos: Dodgers celebrate World Series win with massive parade, Dodger Stadium event
Friday’s parade celebrating the Dodgers’ World Series championship brought an estimated 225,000 people to downtown Los Angeles, with fans lining the route early. The parade started at City Hall at 11 a.m. and ended near Fifth and Figueroa streets. Members of the Dodgers were transported atop double-decker buses through the parade route before heading over to a celebration at Dodger Stadium on Friday afternoon.
Fans savor the day as Dodgers parade comes to a close: ‘This is once in a lifetime’
As soon as the last bus in the parade passed Flower and Third streets, a sea of people rushed toward the Metro train station to avoid traffic and long wait times. The mad dash was controlled and friendly, though, as several of them cheered “let’s go, Dodgers” while they made their way through the crowd. One man dapped up fellow fans and said, “This is once in a lifetime!”
Dennis Villegas, 30, of Hawthorne pulled out his Born X Raised Dodger jacket from the back of his closet for the occasion — he’s had it for over a year but hadn’t had a chance to wear it yet. He was one of several people to wear the beloved L.A. streetwear brand.
Villegas says he loves the team because “it’s the city I’m from.”
“Everything from the colors to the players and the organization, what’s not to love?” he says earnestly. “Everybody loves the Dodgers. Everybody and their mama is out here.”
As Dodgers celebration shifts to the stadium, crowd estimates up to 225,000
About 225,000 in a blue and white mass converged on downtown Los Angeles, according to LAPD officials, to celebrate the Dodgers’ World Series championship on Friday.
LAPD Cmdr. Steve Lurie described it “as very peaceful” with no arrests despite the sidewalks, greens and junctions being packed.
The crowd, which featured jerseys representing former and current Dodger greats like Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax, Fernando Valenzuela and Shohei Ohtani, dispersed quickly after the parade portion of the celebration ended.
“The Los Angeles Police department, in partnership with the Los Angeles fire department and other regional partners, is pleased to share the news that today’s parade was a wonderful, peaceful event,” LAPD Cmdr. Steve Lurie said. “A crowd of about 225,000 Angelinos safely celebrated their world champion Los Angeles Dodgers. There were no significant adverse events, no arrests were made, and we were thrilled to be part of this celebration. Go Dodgers.”
Fans along the Dodgers parade route finding creative vantage points
Strategically positioned along the parade route, several City of Los Angeles dump trucks offered the perfect vantage point for dozens of eager Dodger fans.
Covered in tar residue, the trucks became makeshift viewing platforms as fans climbed in and out for a better view of the parade.
Wearing a Fernando Valenzuela jersey with black handprints on it, Melendez jumped at the chance for a better seat.
“Some people got on, but they were kicked out,” Melendez said. “But once we all stuck together, they chose not to kick us off. This scene is nothing yet — wait until the Dodgers show up.”
Straddling the edge of the 30-foot-high truck with a cigarette in hand, he took in the scene. When he saw the trucks stationed at the corner, he was determined to climb in at all costs.
“It feels great to see everyone come together, like there’s no hatred in the world for a minute,” said 30-year-old Joshua Melendez. “It’s cool to see everyone united.”
For Melendez, this team gives him hope — the kind of hope that pushes him through any bad day or life’s challenges.
“They win for you,” he said. “It’s the little things that matter. That’s what gets us through our lives.”
A devoted Valenzuela fan, Melendez felt winning one for the legendary pitcher after his passing was amazing. He then led the fans in the truck in a spirited “Let’s go Dodgers” chant.
Parade rolls through downtown as Dodgers celebrated by adoring fans: ‘It’s so awesome’
At the top of the stairway just above the main lawn at Gloria Molina Grand Park, just before the parade kicked off, Julio Perez said the Dodgers’ win finally silenced all doubters.
“I think it’s awesome because everyone told us 2020 wasn’t a real win,” Perez said, referring to the championship won in a COVID-shortened season. “This is in your face, this is proving it.”
He’d come down to City Hall for the start of the parade with his friend and co-worker, Cindy Chavez. She was especially moved by Freddie Freeman’s Game 1 winning, storybook-ending grand slam.
“His backstory, his playing through his injury and for his kid, it’s amazing, it’s magic,” Chavez said.
That hit helped Freeman earn World Series MVP, but in the minutes before the parade kicks off, fans seem most proud to finally be able to celebrate this one in person.
“It’s so awesome now we’re coming together as a community,” Perez said, as the sea of blue roared beneath him. “This shows how we’re connected.”
Elsewhere along the parade route, David Rogers, 6, was decked out in a full baseball uniform to resemble his favorite player Mookie Betts.
“I like him because he’s a good hitter,” he says, adding that he plays center field for the Encinitas Little Leagues. His dad, whom he shares a name with, also played baseball as a kid and decided to enroll his son into the sport about two years ago.
“I just became a fan because it was local,” he says, adding that he used to watch the games on KCAL 9 with his mom. “I just put a bat in [my son’s] hand, taught him the fundamentals and he loves it.”
LAPD estimates crowd at 150,000 as Dodgers parade gets underway
As the parade celebrating the Dodgers’ World Series championship got underway, LAPD officials were estimating the crowd at about 150,000 — surpassing earlier expectations of 100,000.
The beach balls were flying at First and Spring with cries of “let’s go, Dodgers” as more and more people in blue and white poured into the Civic Center.
Los Angeles police officers also removed several men who hopped on top of a rental moving truck at First and Spring. Within seconds of the men climbing up the top, four officers hopped out of a black Suburban and ushered them down.
Fans eager to see parade: ‘On a scale of one to 10, I’m probably at 15 right now’
Dressed as Lady Liberty in a Mookie Betts jersey with a Bible in hand, Raul Villa traveled overnight with his family of eight from San Diego to catch a glimpse of the World Series champion Dodgers.
“The Dodgers conquered New York, so I wanted to honor our own Lady Liberty,” he said. “I blessed her with a Dodger jersey... It wouldn’t be baseball if we weren’t giving another team a hard time.”
The 42-year-old Villa explained that his outfit represents liberty, but it’s also a playful jab at the New York Yankees.
“When it comes to the Dodgers, we don’t mess around,” Villa said.
A lifelong Dodger fan, Villa — whose devotion was passed down from his grandfather and parents — wouldn’t have missed this celebration for the world.
“We didn’t really embrace the last celebration like we should have,” Villa said, referring to the World Series title the Dodgers won in 2020. “This is our chance to show the world how strong Dodger fans are and how powerful Los Angeles is as a whole. We’re family, we bleed blue, and we love our Dodgers.”
The Navarro family traveled from the Inland Empire to see the Dodgers parade through Grand and Fifth — a trip that Neil, 42, never questioned making. He brought his two daughters along to join the celebration.
“I had to bring them here, and we had to celebrate,” Neil said. “On a scale of one to 10, I’m probably at 15 right now.”
His daughter, Noelani Navarro, 21, admitted she cried when the final out was made. Her sister, Jordynne Navarro, 19, added that the two watched every single game of the World Series superstitiously.
Excited for the victory, the sisters came for more than just a glimpse of the World Series trophy.
With hand-painted signs reading, “J Flare + Lux, we love U hotties” and “Banda mask on, shirt off,” they hoped a few Dodgers might lose their shirts along the parade route.
The parade was a family affair for three generations who camped out along the route. Daniel Galaviz, 38, and his mother, Dora Fernandez, 54, brought along Galaviz’s daughter, hoping she’d meet her favorite player, Clayton Kershaw.
“She probably went to more Dodger games than I did this year — at least 20,” Fernandez said. “She loves the Dodgers.”
The family traveled overnight from San Bernardino and Rialto, stayed downtown the night before, and set up with a table, camping chairs, and breakfast by 6:30 a.m.
Fernandez said her boss, knowing she’s a devoted Dodger fan, gave her the green light to attend the parade with her family.
Together, they attended Game 2 of the World Series, spending thousands of dollars and putting themselves “in the negative” for the experience. But they felt the trade-off was worth it for a championship.
“This is one of the best things ever,” Galaviz added. “Hopefully, there’s more to come — a dynasty.”
100,000 are expected at Dodgers parade — and security will be tight after earlier unrest
After scattered instances of burglary and vandalism Wednesday in the hours after the Dodgers won the World Series, police are hoping the Friday championship parade and related festivities go off without problems.
“The expectations are a safe, family-friendly event to celebrate our Dodgers,” LAPD Cmdr. Steve Lurie said. “I do expect large crowds, but we believe they will be completely peaceful, and we will be there together with the Fire Department and the Sheriff’s Department to help keep everybody safe.”
Shohei Ohtani leads the way in Dodgers setting merchandise sales record after World Series win
Dodgers fans were ready to celebrate the second Walker Buehler struck out Alex Verdugo for the final out of the World Series,
They were also ready to spend — and they did so more than any other fan base of a title-winning team in at least 10 years.
After clinching their eighth World Series title with a 7-6 win over the New York Yankees on Wednesday night, the Dodgers set a Fanatics sales record for first-hour sales of a team’s merchandise, across any sport, after claiming a championship.
Ain’t no party like an East L.A. Dodgers party — and it didn’t stop
They celebrated in Highland Park and the San Fernando Valley, across Sunset Boulevard and at Chavez Ravine and anywhere Dodgers fans exist on this big blue marble called Earth.
But really, the only place to be the night the Blue Crew won their eighth World Series was East Los Angeles.
As the team marched through the Fall Classic against the hated New York Yankees, I wanted to see fans go crazy in the Mexican American heart of the Southland. On the Atlantic Boulevard corridor between Whittier and Olympic boulevards, TV news helicopters have captured for decades the pachangas — shindigs — that spontaneously erupt any time the Dodgers, Lakers or Mexican men’s national soccer team win a big game.
Fans lining Dodgers parade route early: ‘I had to be here’
By 9 a.m., the Metro train station near Hollywood Boulevard and Western Avenue was filled with fans bedazzled in blue and white.
Cosmo Nova, a truck driver based in Boyle Heights, even called out of work this morning after his wife told him that she was ditching work to attend the parade.
“I was like you’re not going without me!” says Nova, 31, who was wearing a Dodger jersey.
Nova said he became a Dodger fan this year after his wife got free tickets to a game.
“Just going to the stadium made me fall in love and I was like, ‘Why didn’t I do this earlier?’” he says, adding that he was impressed after seeing Shohei Ohtani hit a home run. “I didn’t realize how big the stadium was. I just saw the ball got out of the field and I was hooked.”
Jama Lewis, 46, was wearing a Dodger cap with a handmade crown on top that resembled the Dodgers’ series trophy. The Long Beach native is a life time fan of the team.
“I remember going to my first Dodger game — I had to be like 8 years old,” said Lewis, who’s a nurse. Her mom’s favorite player was Fernando Valenzuela. “I remember seeing my mom so excited and just cheering. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my mom like that.”
That moment had a lasting impact on her and she now goes to about 1-2 games per year with her two children and husband.
Laura Ventura, a nurse based in Culver City, headed to the parade shortly after working an overnight shift this morning. She met up with her best friend from college, Jenny Hernandez, who she’s been going to Dodger games with for over a decade.
“[Laura] would take me and I’m more like I have no idea what’s going on but I love the atmosphere of the people,” says Hernandez of Mid City, adding that Hernandez introduced her to the team. “It’s a community. We’re all together. We’re all hanging out.”
She adds, “For us, it was a bonding moment for our friendship, so it became a family tradition as we’ve gotten older.”
Corey Van Vactor, 50, has been going to Dodger games since he was three years old with his father. He works down the street from the parade, and came straight off of his overnight shift.
Hall of Fame won’t get Freddie Freeman’s grand slam ball, but Dodgers donate World Series memorabilia
The most valuable piece of memorabilia from the Dodgers’ World Series championship run is easily identified. It’s the baseball struck by Freddie Freeman that landed in the right-field pavilion in the 10th inning of Game 1, the first walk-off grand slam in fall classic history.
Auction experts estimate it would fetch more than $2 million, the value burnished by the Dodgers winning the five-game series over the New York Yankees and Freeman being named the most valuable player. The ball was scooped up by a 10-year-old diehard Dodgers fan, and he’s been floating on cloud nine ever since.
How one ‘crazy’ inning ignited Dodgers’ comeback in World Series clincher
NEW YORK — There was only one word to describe the five-run fifth inning that resurrected the Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday night, and leave it to the man who produced the most quirky hit of the implausible rally to deliver it.
“Crazy!” Mookie Betts screamed, his eyes stinging from the beer and champagne teammates poured over his head after a stunning 7-6 come-from-behind victory over the New York Yankees clinched the eighth championship in Dodgers franchise history. “It was crazy how it unfolded. I mean, you gotta play a clean game to beat us.”
The Yankees did not play a clean game Wednesday night, bunching most of their mistakes in a fifth inning that had to be one of the ugliest in postseason history, one that wiped out the 5-0 lead they built on Aaron Judge’s two-run home run in the first inning and solo shots by Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the first and Giancarlo Stanton in the third.
Shaikin: Magic Johnson all smiles over Dodgers’ transformation into a World Series power
NEW YORK — Magic Johnson smiled, because of course he did. It is the smile that won over a city. It is the smile that eased our anxieties over the decades.
In 1980, the kid smiled and told Los Angeles he would lead the Lakers to a championship on a night without Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In 2012, the old man smiled and told Los Angeles he would lead the Dodgers out of bankruptcy and back to baseball’s promised land.
It really is Magic: With a legendary Laker as one of the owners, the Dodgers now are the most popular team in L.A.
Dodgers used Kobe Bryant’s ‘Job’s not finished’ quote in World Series run. Vanessa says they got it done
Job finished.
It’s a succinct way of phrasing what the World Series-champion Dodgers accomplished this season, after years of regular-season dominance followed by postseason disappointment.
It’s also appropriate because of the Mamba Mentality they showed along the way.
Vanessa Bryant posted the phrase “Job finished” on her Instagram Stories on Wednesday night after the Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees 7-6 in Game 5 of the World Series to clinch their eighth championship.
New L.A. Times book ‘Best in Sho’ commemorates Dodgers’ World Series winning season
“Best in Sho,” a new Los Angeles Times’ book, chronicles the Dodgers’ dramatic run to the eighth World Series title in franchise history.
The 160-page coffee table book features The Times’ award-winning reporting, commentary and photography. It highlights the offseason signings of superstar Shohei Ohtani and other key playmakers, a unique season opener in South Korea, resilience amid injuries and adversity and a postseason run unlike any other featuring heroic efforts by Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Walker Buehler and many others.
The book is available for presale at The Times’ store and will ship by Dec. 9. Order by Dec. 3 to get a 15% discount.
Looking back at the Dodgers’ path through the postseason before their victory over the New York Yankees in the 2024 World Series.
Plaschke: The Greatest! Historic Dodgers overpower Yankees for 8th World Series title
NEW YORK — The silent, somber Bronx suddenly was bathed in joyous dancing blue, a screaming scrum leaping and bouncing and hugging into history.
The Dodgers did it. They really did it.
The hallowed New York Yankees stood frozen in their dugout, stripped of their aura and bludgeoned at their essence, painfully demolished pinstripe by pinstripe.
The Dodgers did it. They really did it.
The team that chokes swallowed swords. The team that crumbles spit fire. The most teeth-grinding great team in baseball chomped through a legacy of frustration on the sort of October night that, while once forgettable, now will live forever.
Photos: Dodgers fans take to the streets after they defeat the Yankees for their 8th World Series title
Crowds of people took to the streets to revel in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ World Series-clinching Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees from downtown Los Angeles to Echo Park, forcing the Los Angeles Police Department to issue several dispersal orders after some businesses were looted and a Metro bus was vandalized and then set ablaze.
Dodgers fans celebrate as fireworks go off in downtown Los Angeles after the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the World Series.
Dodgers beat Yankees to win another World Series, cement ‘golden era’ of franchise dominance
NEW YORK — It had felt so close, yet remained so difficult to cement.
For more than a decade, the Dodgers had aimed for more than just regular-season success. More than just repeated trips to the postseason. More than just a lone, COVID-bubble championship in a pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
This, as president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman had declared time and again, was supposed to be a “golden era of Dodgers baseball,” a generation of organizational excellence unmatched in the storied, but often tortured, history of the century-old franchise.
Don’t rain on our parade! Forecasted storm should not affect Friday’s Dodger celebration
Don’t worry, it looks like there’s nothing that could — literally — rain on the Dodger’s World Series championship parade Friday.
A weekend storm expected to bring the region’s first precipitation since May should not arrive in time to dampen any victory celebration. The Dodgers won their eighth world title Wednesday night with a 7-6 victory over the New York Yankees.
Dodgers World Series victory parade route
Here’s a look at the route for the Dodgers’ World Series victory parade, which is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. on Spring Street in front of City Hall in downtown Los Angeles.
The route is easily accessible via the Metro rail Red Line via the Civic Center/Grand Park and 7th Street/Metro Center stations. In addition “Dodger Stadium Express” while be running from Union Station for anyone attending the victory celebration at Dodger Stadium after the parade.
Ready to celebrate? Dodgers’ World Series championship parade will be Friday
After 36 years, the Dodgers have a date for a World Series championship parade: It’s Friday.
The morning parade will start at City Hall at 11 a.m. and end on 5th Street, near Figueroa Street. Members of the Dodgers will be transported atop double-decker buses. A celebration at Dodger Stadium will follow at 12:15 p.m., with tickets required for the event.
The Dodgers said logistics would make it impossible for fans to attend both events. For the Dodger Stadium celebration, parking gates will open at 8:30 a.m. and stadium entry gates will open at 9 a.m.
Television coverage of all of Friday’s events will begin at 9:30 a.m. on SportsNet LA and various local channels. Radio coverage will air on AM 570.