The Los Angeles Dodgers made a repeat visit to the White House on Thursday, with a gift in hand.
Appearing alongside President Donald Trump to celebrate their 2025 World Series title, Dodgers owner Mark Walter presented Trump with a personalized championship ring, to go with the usual jersey given to presidents at such events.
Trump noted it was the Dodgers’ first time repeating as champions and indicated he would like to see them complete the three-peat:
“For the first time in the proud history of this famous franchise, you are repeat champions — I didn’t know that, that’s the first time? — great ownership, great management. I’m thrilled to say welcome back to the White House and maybe I’ll see you again next year, I hope.”
The strong majority of Dodgers players were at the event, including stars Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Max Muncy. There were also postseason heroes like Will Klein and Miguel Rojas, who both got specific call-outs from Trump.
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The most notable holdout was Mookie Betts, who declined to go but insisted it was out of a desire to spend time with his family rather than any political statement. Betts similar skipped a visit to Trump’s White House with the 2018 Boston Red Sox, but made the trip for former president Joe Biden with the 2020 Dodgers and for Trump with the 2024 Dodgers.
Other absences included Will Smith, Kiké Hernández, Tyler Glasnow, Blake Treinen and Blake Snell, all of whom are currently on the injured list. Hernández was, however, asked last week if he would have gone if healthy and said “probably not.”
Attendees of the ceremony from the White House side included cabinet members Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Markwayne Mullin and Brooke Rollins, all of whom were said by Trump to be Dodger fans.
The majority of the ceremony consisted of Trump recapping the Dodgers’ run last year and praising the players involved, with some tangents. One example included an error-riddled recollection of the Babe Ruth trade while discussing Ohtani’s two-way super-stardom:
“If you would have told me you could be the best pitcher and the best hitter at the same time — you know, Babe Ruth was pretty close to that. They drafted Babe Ruth, he was 19 years old, I know something about baseball. Babe was 19 years old and considered the worst trade in the history of sports. I would say Babe will always take that.
“He was 19 and they got a 36-year-old third baseman and $100,000. I would rate that pretty bad. They drafted him as a pitcher, but he did something very unusual. He led the league in home runs as a pitcher. That one you [Ohtani] have to do, he’s pretty close to doing it.”
For those keeping score at home, Ruth was not drafted (the MLB Draft was instituted in 1965, three decades after his final season), he was sold to the New York Yankees after his age-24 season (not when he was 19 years old), the Boston Red Sox got only cash for him (no third baseman was involved in the deal) and Ohtani has already led the league homers in a season he pitched (he had an AL-best 44 homers in 2023 during his time with the Los Angeles Angels).
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Before the ceremony, Trump had also praised Ohtani as “just about the best fielder in the outfield in baseball.” Ohtani has not started a game in the outfield since his career in Japan.
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