WASHINGTON — Inside a packed East Room and with a live band performing “We Are The Champions,” President Donald Trump welcomed the Los Angeles Dodgers to the White House on Monday morning, repeatedly praising the 2024 World Series champions for “some of the most incredible performances ever seen on the baseball diamond.”
The entire Dodgers traveling party appeared to be in attendance for the last planned celebration of that championship, including Mookie Betts (who declined to attend during Trump’s first term in office while with the Boston Red Sox) and Kiké Hernández, who criticized Trump in 2017 and urged the President to “show some humanity” for his response to natural disasters in Hernández’s native Puerto Rico. Three rows of Dodgers players, coaches, front office personnel and executives stood behind Trump as, after a brief preamble over egg prices and references to senators “I don’t particularly like,” the President commended the club’s efforts in its second title in five years.
“The scouting report at the start of the series said that the Dodgers could win by focusing on the fundamentals, and that’s exactly what they did,” Trump said before referencing the Dodgers’ five-run comeback in Game 5 of the World Series against the New York Yankees. “You showed America that it’s not about individual glory. It’s about the team digging deep and sprinting right through first base.
“I can tell you that you can plan on being back here. I hope you’re going to be back here next year.”
The group in attendance also included manager Dave Roberts, whose tactics Trump criticized publicly during the 2018 World Series and who hinted in 2019 that he would decline an invite that year if Trump was in office. Roberts stood to Trump’s right, playfully exchanging banter with the President.
Trump lauded Roberts, who he called “one of the greatest managers, really, ever to wear the Dodger blue.”
“That was nice to hear,” Roberts said with a smirk on Monday afternoon.
Trump heaped praise on Shohei Ohtani, who he said “looks like a movie star.” As Trump rattled off the accolades that Ohtani achieved in his first season with the Dodgers, including the first season in baseball history with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases, he glanced over to Roberts.
“Is he good?” Trump asked.
“He’s only getting better,” Roberts responded.
“That’s scary for a lot of people,” Trump said.
The President went down the line of the Dodgers’ October heroes, from Betts to Tommy Edman to Max Muncy to Freddie Freeman to Blake Treinen.
“He kind of recognized a lot of us in that situation,” Betts said. “I think it just kind of shows that it wasn’t one man that won that 2024 World Series. It was a collective unit.”
Of Betts, Trump quipped about the deal the Dodgers made to acquire him in 2020 — “I didn’t think that was a particularly good trade when they made it, and I happened to be right” — and his ability to beat out the infield single that brought home the first run of the Dodgers’ Game 5 comeback. Freeman’s heroics, including hitting the first-ever walk-off grand slam in World Series history, were “amazing.”
Trump professed his Yankees fandom and longed for a rematch.
“Maybe we’ll see the same thing over again,” Trump said.
While several other injured Dodgers were in attendance, Freeman, the World Series MVP, was not, with the Dodgers mindful of having him travel cross-country and risk swelling in his sprained right ankle after being placed on the injured list Thursday.
Four years after the Dodgers’ last visit to the White House, and under a different administration than their July 2021 visit with Joe Biden in office, club owner Mark Walter was gracious when invited by Trump to speak.
“We’re very pleased to participate in the tradition of bringing champions to the White House,” Walter said as part of his prepared statement, echoing what has been the organization’s running response to outcry over the team’s decision to accept Trump’s invitation. The organization’s decision sparked some outcry from a Los Angeles fan base that voted 64.8 percent in favor of Trump’s opponent, Kamala Harris.
“I think we all felt really good about it,” Roberts said. “We wanted to go there to, again, recognize our ’24 team. There’s a lot of people in our organization that were there, that have different backgrounds, different races, genders and all that stuff. And we were all there. And I thought it was a really good experience.”
Clayton Kershaw, who Trump called the club’s “heart and soul,” spoke on behalf of the players just as he did during the Dodgers’ last White House visit. Wearing a tan suit with a blue shirt and gold tie, Kershaw called it “an incredible honor for me.”
“This organization exemplifies what it means to come together as one for a greater purpose and represent something so much bigger than themselves,” Kershaw said. “The selflessness and humility that each one of these players and staff have shown over the last year is truly an inspiration. They have constantly played hurt, switched positions and taken the ball to put the team first. As a spectator for our championship run last year, I was in awe of this group.”
Kershaw was given the task at the last minute, after Freeman did not join the Dodgers on the trip. He wrote his brief speech in a matter of hours on the flight to Washington, D.C., and “had a few editors” before unveiling it in the East Room.
After Kershaw was done speaking, Trump escorted the team to the Oval Office, where a single-file line of players and team officials lined up for photo opportunities.
“The White House is an incredible honor to get to go see, regardless of who’s in office,” Kershaw said. “We went in 2021, we went this time. I know there’s been a lot of stuff about, should the Dodgers go, all this stuff, but at the end of the day, getting to go to the White House, getting to see the Oval Office, getting to meet the President of the United States, that’s stuff that you can’t lose sight of no matter what you believe.
“I was super honored to get to go today. It was an incredible opportunity. I’m glad we got to be part of it.”
(Photo: Alex Wong / Getty Images)
