Shohei Ohtani’s did not come alone to his first World Series championship victory parade, bringing his dog, Decoy, on the team bus.
Decoy, a Dutch Kooikerhondje, had on a Dodgers’ jersey and waved to fans with Ohtani’s help, stealing the show.
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ roster was stuck in traffic on the way to their own World Series victory parade, where 100,000 fans were waiting to celebrate their championship victory.
The parade took place on Friday, two days after the team secured their first championship since 2020 with a Game 5 win over the New York Yankees.
The Dodgers did not lose a World Series game at home, with Freddie Freeman’s walk-off Grand Slam to win Game 1 and a 4-2 win last Saturday in Game 2.
Los Angeles’ trip to Yankee Stadium saw the Dodgers all but guarantee its eighth championship in franchise history with a dominant victory in Game 3.
The Yankees did not get swept, becoming one of four teams in baseball history, and the first since 1970 to avoid a World Series sweep when losing the first three games of the series.
New York could not make history and force the series back to Los Angeles for a Game 6, blowing a 5-run lead in Game 5 to give the Dodgers the championship victory.
It is the second straight season where the World Series lasted five games, as the Texas Rangers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks by the same margin in last season’s World Series.
The parade will feature Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freeman, who was the World Series MVP, among the rest of the Dodgers roster and coaching staff.
This is the Dodgers’ first true championship parade since 1988 due to their victory in 2020 taking place during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Dodgers eventually got out of the traffic jam and proceeded down the parade route headed to their stadium.
The parade will begin mid-morning at Gloria Molina Grand Park in front of City Hall with Mayor Karen Bass in attendance. It will continue on a 45-minute route that culminates at the intersection of 5th and Flower streets, with the Dodgers traveling atop double-decker buses.
The celebration at Dodger Stadium will begin shortly after noon. The parade will be carried on the stadium’s videoboards ahead of the team’s arrival.
The team said that because of logistics, traffic and timing, fans won’t be able to attend both events. People dressed in blue Dodgers gear began gathering along downtown streets hours ahead of time.
A portion of the proceeds from the ticketed stadium event will be donated to the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation.
There were more than a dozen arrests during informal celebrations after the team’s comeback win to clinch the Series. Burglaries, vandalism and fires occurred in some parts of the city.
