Thousands of Dodgers fans took to downtown Los Angeles this Friday to witness the first parade in 36 years of the baseball team that this week was crowned the winner of the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series.
“This is the celebration that counts! I feel very excited,” Joe, 58, a resident of San Dimas, Los Angeles, who has been a Dodgers fan since the 80s and who wore a jersey of the recently deceased Mexican pitcher Fernando ‘El Toro’ Valenzuela.
On October 30, the Dodgers became World Series champions for the eighth time in their history, after beating the New York Yankees 7-6 at home and closing the series with a 4-1 lead.
The Los Angeles team had also won in 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic prevented the title celebrations, so this parade was for many their first community experience.
Some fans arrived at Los Angeles City Hall from 6:00 a.m. local time on Friday with the intention of seeing the most popular players such as Shohei Ohtani, Freedie Freeman, or Mookie Betts, pass by in the trucks that toured the city before arriving at the Los Angeles Stadium. the Dodgers.
“Ohtani is very popular and loved, but Freedie Freeman is the one who won the Series for us,” said Joe, who managed to see the team’s first baseman in the distance, who a day before was chosen as the team’s most valuable player (MVP). the 2024 World Series.
Melanie, 32, arrived just half an hour before the parade began but managed to get on the roof of a van to see the players from a better angle.
Even so, the procession was “so fast” that he could not see all the members of the team: “we only saw Mookie Betts,” he lamented to EFE.
Lora, a 35-year-old native of Los Angeles, assured EFE that she has been a Dodgers fan: “since the day I was born.” She was luckier, as she managed to see Betts, Ohtani, Freeman, Walker Buehler and Tommy Edman.
“I love them all but my favorite is Freeman, he always has been, and now that he did such an incredible job, I love him even more,” said the woman who had planned to celebrate the whole day with some ‘micheladas’ with her friend.
At the meeting there was no shortage of t-shirts and songs in tribute to Fernando ‘El Toro’ Valenzuela (1960-2024), the iconic Mexican pitcher for the Dodgers and the Major Leagues who died on October 22 at the age of 63.
“Today we are also celebrating his birthday and it is the best time to do it, I think it was meant to be that way, because it is his birthday and because we won the World Series,” Lora added.
The parade is one of two events taking place this Friday, the other being a gathering of the players at a ticketed event at Dodger Stadium.
