The City of Angels erupted in celebration following the Los Angeles Dodgers’ nail-biting, seven game World Series win. Angelenos joined fans around the world in jubilation as the Dodgers became the first team in 25 years to secure back-to-back championships.
Los Angeles area celebrations included a downtown parade on Monday morning, a ticketed rally at Dodger Stadium and a smattering of spontaneous parties across the city.
Videos on social media show thousands of Angelenos flooding downtown streets for the morning parade, many sporting homemade signs and Dodger flags, and the team riding high on a double decker bus through the throngs, the Commissioner’s trophy lifted high.
Shohei Ohtani appeared with his wife and spoke optimistically about the Dodgers’ prospects of a three-peat.
“I’m already thinking about the third time we’re going to do this,” Ohtani told Spectrum SportsNet television through an interpreter.
The parade route ended at Dodger Stadium, with the team walking out to Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us, DJ Mustard as the resident DJ, and Ice Cube driving a Pacific blue vintage Cadillac around the stadium’s outfield.
The celebrations started well before the parade, with Dodgers fans setting off flares in the streets of Downtown Los Angeles on Sunday night.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the World Series’ Most Valuable Player (MVP), spoke plainly about the win.
“Losing is not an option,” Yamamoto said. “I love the Dodgers. I love Los Angeles.”
Mark Walter, the Dodgers owner, however, received a less warm reception at the rally. Video from the victory celebration appears to show Walters walking onstage to a mix of cheers and boos, with jeers punctuating his speech. Walter also serves as CEO of Guggenheim Investments, which holds stakes in private prison companies profiting from ICE deportations. Walter and the Dodgers faced scrutiny from the team’s Latino-heavy fan base for their silence on ICE raids across the city this year.
The World Series, however, appeared to be a bright spot in what has been a trying year for Los Angeles. An estimated 225,000 people turned out to the Dodgers’ victory parade last year and according to Dodgers player Freddie Freeman, fans this year showed just as much love – if not more.
“I feel like it’s almost double from last year,” Freeman said. “These fans are crazy. It’s so awesome to be a part of this.”
