Dodgers Celebrate With Parade
After Los Angeles defeated New York on Wednesday last week rallying from a five-run deficit to take both World Series Game 5 and the 2024 championship. It’s the second time the Dodgers have won the World Series in the past five years. Unlike last time, which occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic year of 2020, the Dodgers are able to celebrate with their fans by throwing a championship parade in Los Angeles.
Earl Heath | Contributing Sports Writer
After Los Angeles defeated New York on Wednesday last week rallying from a five-run deficit to take both World Series Game 5 and the 2024 championship. It’s the second time the Dodgers have won the World Series in the past five years. Unlike last time, which occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic year of 2020, the Dodgers are able to celebrate with their fans by throwing a championship parade in Los Angeles.
“Who has more championships in the 2020s than us?” Hernandez asked rhetorically. “Absolutely nobody.”
He then thanked Ice Cube, both for Friday’s performance and the performance before Game 2. Hernandez said the Dodgers knew “we’d already won it” as soon Ice Cube came out. He then took a dig at the New York Yankees and Fat Joe’s performance before Game 3 at Yankee Stadium.
“He used to be fat, but he’s not fat anymore,” Hernandez said. “After that performance, we’d already won.”
Dodgers teammate Shohei Ohtani was subsequently asked from atop his bus on the MLB Network simulcast whether he might take his shirt off at some point during today’s celebration.
“No,” Ohtani said immediately in English, bypassing his translator. “Never.”
Earlier in the interview, Ohtani expressed astonishment at the number of Dodgers fans in attendance along the parade route. The players are starting to arrive at Dodger Stadium for a sold-out celebration ceremony.
Following the nearly one-hour parade route, which saw hundreds of thousands of Dodgers fans line the streets of Los Angeles for a glimpse of their World Series Champions, the team headed back to Chavez Ravine for a celebration in front of the fans.
With the festivities occurring on Fernando Valenzuela’s birthday, the Dodger Stadium crowd made sure to pay tribute to the late pitching legend.
Actor Edward James Olmos took the mic and talked about Valenzuela’s legacy to Los Angeles and he started singing Happy Birthday before the rest of the crowd joined in. The legendary Valenzuela passed away just two days before the World Series began.
The celebration at Dodger Stadium featured a mariachi band, a performance by Ice Cube, several celebrity sightings, and speeches by most of the players. Here are the top five best moments from the parade and celebration.
