Baseball is just a game. None of the 42,458 fans packed into Dodger Stadium to watch the game Friday afternoon, excluding Chavez Ravine.
They arrived with their children, friends, parents and grandparents. Many of them have watched the party that Fernando Valenzuela has been preparing for four to 36 years, electrifying the city and igniting a movement.
When the Dodgers won it all in 2020, the only fans they welcomed were in the form of cardboard cutouts. The real players were watching from home, confined by the limitations of a pandemic that forced the postseason to be played inside the Texas bubble and denied the winners the parade they always imagined.
The Dodgers haven’t celebrated a full-season World Series win since 1988, despite winning it all over the past few decades, including 11 straight postseason appearances before this year.
On Friday afternoon, what would have been Valenzuela’s 64th birthday, an explosion erupted in the city, kicking off a long-awaited parade.
“We definitely made up for it in 2020,” coach Dave Roberts said. “Obviously there are a lot of players in 2020 who didn’t appreciate and experience what we experienced, but that goes for them as well.”
The Dodgers came home from New York, where they silenced the critics and naysayers who tried to take them to the only championship they’d won in the last 30 years, a 60-game sprint. They have shown that they can win in unprecedented sprints. This year they showed that they can handle the rigors of a marathon.
Baseball is just a game, but the tears in the eyes of the Dodgers players who finally finished the parade suggested something more.
Clayton Kershaw explained that the long preparations for the event may have made it “sweeter.”
“I’ve waited a long time for this,” Kershaw said. “I’m so grateful to every single fan that came out and I’m so grateful for how well they’ve treated me and my family over the years. I mean, we’ve been through it. We’ve been through some .It means so much to me to be able to see them happy and celebrate with us.”
Angelenos took to the streets to celebrate the occasion, with hundreds of thousands converging on the parade route that started at City Hall and continued through downtown Los Angeles for the Dodgers, who won 52 games in the regular season this year. We then finalized the NLDS and NLCS.
Roberts was put on the hot seat in October after several playoff exits. He kicked off November on the ceremony stage at Dodger Stadium, where he danced with Ice Cube and expertly steered his team to a championship.
“Today was a good day,” Roberts said.
There were many ways for the Dodgers to express their cheers, with the most prominent figures taking the microphone one by one.
Some people, including Shohei Otani, spoke it as a second language. The prized free agent acquisition, who went six years without a winning season to begin his career in Anaheim, gave a speech thanking the crowd in English after winning the World Series in his first year with the Dodgers.
“This is really special,” he said. “I am truly honored to be a part of this team. Congratulations, Los Angeles. Thank you.”
Many have given brief explanations. “We are world champions, mom,” Walker Buehler said two days after throwing out his final pitch at Yankee Stadium.
Frivolity was a popular form of expression, including for other players who furthered his October legend.
“Ice Cube came out in Game 2 and with his performance we already won without even having to play the game,” said Kiké Hernández. “Then we go to New York. This guy used to be fat, but he’s not fat anymore. His name is Joe. He came out and sang, and after that show, we didn’t even have to play, we already won. .”
Meanwhile, Mookie Betts pointed to his hand.
Betts’ addition sparked the Dodgers’ final championship season, but he struggled through the last few Octobers before breaking out again this postseason, hitting .290/.387/.565 with four home runs and becoming the only active player in the major leagues to do so. It is done. There are three World Series rings.
“LA, I’m trying to fill these hands,” said Betts, who signed a 12-year contract extension during the Dodgers’ 2020 World Series run.
Baseball may be just a game, but it’s also been a source of catharsis for many Dodgers veterans.
There was Freddie Freeman, who battled ankle, finger and rib injuries as well as personal pain throughout the second half of the season. His 3-year-old son, Max, suffered a sudden and frightening autoimmune disease that left him temporarily unable to walk. The Dodger Stadium crowd gave him a standing ovation when Freeman returned from the emergency family list in early August after Max began to improve, and the cheers poured in again on Friday.
“You guys have been great for me and my family,” Freeman said. “It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in the field. I was so moved. I did my best to get out there for you guys, and I’m glad I did.”
There was Teoscar Hernández, who joined the Dodgers on a one-year deal last winter after his market did not materialize as expected. He decided to go to Los Angeles for a chance to win, providing a major jolt to the Dodgers’ lineup in a bounce-back year. Hernández, who quickly became a fan favorite as evidenced by the cheers on Friday, got choked up as he took the microphone and thanked the crowd.
The impending free agent also expressed his hopes of returning to the Dodgers next year, calling it a “priority.”
“I knew it would be good,” said Teoscar Hernández. “I knew a lot of things would happen for the better, but this is a lot more than I expected.”
And then there was Kershaw, who embodied the franchise’s incredible highs and incredible lows over the past two decades.
“I have nothing to do with this championship, but it feels like the best feeling in the world,” Kershaw told the cheering crowd. “Dodger for life.”
The future Hall of Famer was unable to contribute during the 2024 season after trying and failing to deal with multiple injuries. He needs two surgeries on Wednesday. One to fix a left big toe and foot problem that sidelined him for a year, and the other to repair a meniscus in his left knee.
It’s one of the reasons it meant so much to him that his teammates, Roberts and Kershaw, still beckon him to the stage to say a few words in front of a fan base that has lived through every pitch, through bitter losses and euphoric victories. . He has been for 17 years.
Next year, Kershaw plans to become a record 18th player in a Dodgers uniform, whether he picks up his player option or not.
The 2020 season championship came as a relief to him. This only induced tears of happiness.
“Everyone says that baseball is just a game,” Kershaw said. “But I don’t know. If you look around, you’ll see how much it means to a lot of people. I think it might be baseball, but it means a lot to a lot of people, but it doesn’t to me.” different.”
Dodgers vs. Yankees: 2024 World Series Mini-Movie | MLB on FOX 🎥
Rowan Cavner He is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU graduate, Rowan was born in California and grew up in Texas before moving back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter. @Rowankabner.
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