celebrate

There were fireworks, there was a flyover, there was Will Ferrell screaming and Keith Williams Jr. crooning and four months of cheers unleashed by fans wearing championship belts and howling grins.

But the real stars of Thursday’s Dodger opening day show never made a sound.

They arrived silently at the end of the pregame ceremony, carefully held by two of the men who helped win them, lifted high for all those who so passionately longed for them.

They were the last two Commissioner’s Trophies, the back-to-back World Series championship trophies, the two symbols of the Dodgers domination held side by side in the afternoon sun.

Man, it was beautiful. Goodness, how they sparkled. Incredible, how they glowed.

It was almost as if they were powered by some electrical force, some sort of championship current running between them, lighting them up with a blinding power curated by the battered fingers of the two veterans who touched them.

Freddie Freeman, whose grand slam doomed the New York Yankees, held the 2024 trophy. Miguel Rojas, whose home run stunned the Toronto Blue Jays, held the 2025 trophy.

Together they brought the trophies to the dugout from center field while riding in the back of a blue convertible driven by Ferrell as part of an elaborate video skit.

It was the first time many had seen the hardware side by side, and, amid audible gasps, their power was unmistakable. The greatness of the Dodgers accomplishment came to life on a day when their new task became equally clear.

“Three-peat!” screamed one of the pregame musicians.

Welcome, Dodgers, to 2026.

While manager Dave Roberts downplayed the three-peat talk before the opening 8-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks, you know it’s here, it’s there, it’s everywhere.

“At this moment, very minimal,” said Roberts when asked about the pressure. “…So yeah, hopefully we can keep that to a minimum throughout the season. But yeah, there’s obviously going to be a lot of talk about it.”

Thursday did nothing to dampen that talk. It was as if last season’s Game 7 against the Toronto Blue Jays was still being played. The Dodgers behaved like the exact same team with some of the same heroes.

The winning pitcher? Once again, it was Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who threw six solid innings with six strikeouts and no walks.

The game-changing play? Once again, it was Andy Pages, whose three-run home run in the fifth inning gave the Dodgers a lead they never lost.

The final big blow? Yep, Will Smith, whose two-run homer in the seventh inning clinched it.

Dodgers unveil the plaque for the 2025 World Series win.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

There was even a World Series star coming out of the bullpen, new cult hero Will Klein entering the game to the night’s loudest ovation and throwing a scoreless inning.

It’s as if the Dodgers have been on the same roll for four months…with no signs of slowing. This could be crazy. This already is crazy.

Other than the cool trophies and the Diamondbacks trampling, the most notable show Thursday was unwittingly staged by Dodger Stadium itself.

Your dutiful correspondent’s first impression of his favorite place on earth upon returning here for his 37th home opener wasn’t about the deep green or brilliant blue or enduring mountainscape.

It was, when did this place become Las Vegas?

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Illuminated by the new grotesquely red Uniqlo Field billboard hanging high above center field, the stadium appears to have been transformed into something straight from NASCAR, advertisements filling every nook and cranny of the pavilion and beyond. There are giant billboards above the bullpens. There are scribbled ads on the bullpen walls. There are screaming displays for beer, soda and healthcare, the latter of which you will need if you heed too many of these ads.

The incessant sales pitches are buffeted by the usual deafening pounding music, which makes Vin Scully Avenue seem like Las Vegas Boulevard.

Was it always like this? It doesn’t seem like it. The Dodgers have always been relentless billboard salesmen, but since the arrival of Shohei Ohtani, they’ve become a global attraction with seemingly every major company on earth willing to pay for a piece of their success.

Fans will probably notice that the biggest difference this year is the $125-million sponsorship deal with Uniqlo, a Japanese apparel company that bought center field. Chavez Ravine is now officially known as Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium and, yeah, on Thursday it was awful hearing public address announcer Todd Leitz introduce it like that.

Not to worry, nobody in their right mind is ever going to call it that. Nonetheless, the whole atmosphere was weird and unsettling.

Still, it’s hard to blame the Dodgers. They’ve spent gobs of money building a two-time defending champion, and those bucks have got to come from somewhere.

You want Kyle Tucker? Live with the beer ad. You want a $1 billion rotation? Deal with the bank ad.

Dodgers Blake Snell, Kiké Hernandez, Roki Sasaki and Alex Call during player introductions before the game.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Unlike many other teams that have made baseball a haven for cheapskates, the Dodgers invest much of their revenue back into the roster.

It’s not always pretty. It can be loud and distracting and obnoxious. But it works.

As night fell on a blessed blue Thursday, the Dodgers had won their eighth straight home opener. They did it with pitching, hitting, depth, and two of the prettiest pieces of jewelry you’ve ever seen.

It was a day to celebrate the completion of the most incredible two-year journey in franchise history.

It was also a day to realize that the journey has just begun.

First baseman Freddie Freeman, pausing outside of the Dodgers’ home dugout to talk about the upcoming season, nodded his head toward the right-field foul pole, where just beyond it the Dodgers’ championships signs are displayed.

Eight baseball-shaped signs sported their years — 1955, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981, 1988, 2020, 2024 — while a ninth was still shielded by a blue cover, with plenty of room along the stadium’s club level for more.

“You want to just keep putting those banners up,” Freeman said. “That one’s blocked for a reason. You want to do it again. You want to keep doing it over and over and over again. And that’s what’s fun, and then that’s what makes everything else just take care of itself.”

The 2025 championship sign will be revealed as the Dodgers both celebrate last year’s achievements and set the tone for this year.

They’ll receive their World Series ring on Friday, but they’ll also be in the midst of playing three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“Everyone’s different,” Freeman said. “Some people want to move on and get on to the new season and not worry about last year. I’m one of the guys that can appreciate what we did last year, even in the present year.

“It’s hard to win a World Series. I don’t like to just kick it to the side. … Our fans haven’t celebrated it since the parade. We get to celebrate with our fans and open the weekend. It’s going to be a great time.”

Catcher Will Smith was more in the other camp.

“I get my ring, and I put it in the safe, and I don’t really look at it ever again,” he said when asked about the ring ceremony. “It brings back all the emotions from the prior year, you like showing friends and stuff, it’s cool. But no, for me, the motivation is just winning, being with these guys each and every day, and competing with them and working towards that goal.”

On that point, Dodgers players seem to agree.

They don’t need a tangible reminder of their World Series aspirations this year.

“It’ll be one of the few days where we really think about what we did last year, versus what we’re trying to do right now,” veteran third baseman Max Muncy said.

Plenty of teams say their goal is to win the World Series. But the Dodgers have raised their outside expectations, too. Entering Thursday, PECOTA put the Dodgers’ odds of completing a three-peat at 20.8%, by far the highest World Series chances in the majors. PECOTA, Baseball Prospectus’ projection system, listed the Mariners as next most likely to win the World Series, at 14.2%.

While those numbers establish a clear favorite, they also reflect how unpredictable the postseason can be. Even the Dodgers, with their lofty payroll and strong player development track record, will need health, luck, and the right mindset to pull off a third straight championship.

“You know what the goal is every single year, and that’s to be the last team standing at the end,” Mucy said. “But we more so preach, how do you get there, instead of that being the goal. And for us, it’s always been, you have to take it one day at a time.”

The phrase itself isn’t a novel concept. The trick is making that focus a reality, and a team standard.

“I talk about it every day,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I’ve talked about it since I got here. It’s just, let’s win a baseball game. That’s our mantra, and everyone in this building, that’s the goal.”

The veterans on the team preach it too, hoping to pass down that team-first focus to the generation coming behind them.

“When you put on this uniform, you come in here, you see all these superstars working extremely hard every single day — front office, ownership group doing the same thing — that’s the expectation,” Freeman said. “It’s a different standard, and you just want to be part of that standard that keeps the level high.”

After the commotion of the championship banner reveal and the ring presentation the first two days of the season, “let’s win a baseball game,” will continue to be the mantra.

Maybe it will even work well enough, day after day, for the Dodgers to add another sign to their championship display this time next year.

Millions of people have rung in the ancient Persian New Year, Nowruz, as war grips the Middle East. The 3,000-year-old Zoroastrian-rooted celebration marks the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere and is celebrated by 300 million people in Iran and Central Asia.

As attention shifts to the Iran war, tighter restrictions on Gaza are driving shortages, price hikes and growing suffering, turning a time of celebration into one of anxiety for millions.

While the world’s attention is fixed on the Iran war, Israel has quietly tightened its chokehold on Gaza, further restricting the flow of goods and aid. As Eid al-Fitr begins, a time meant to be marked by joy and family gatherings, millions in Gaza are struggling under deepening shortages and rising hardship. What should be a moment of celebration has instead become one of anxiety, as the worsening crisis strips Eid of even its simplest pleasures.

The economic crisis is not merely a case of ordinary inflation or a temporary shortage of goods, but the result of a complex interplay between the Israeli occupation, local market dynamics, and broader regional and international strategies. Israel has repeatedly taken advantage of external tensions, such as those involving Iran or Lebanon, to justify tightening restrictions on the movement of goods through crossings while intensifying military pressure on Gaza. This leaves residents directly exposed to soaring prices and shortages of essential commodities.

Even when goods are available in the markets, some traders have taken advantage of the crisis to make excessive profits by raising prices unjustifiably. Tomatoes, for example, which used to be 3 shekels ($0.97) before the recent events, now cost 20 shekels ($6.48). Essential canned goods have increased at similar rates. Cooking gas now costs 80 shekels ($25.92) for an 8kg cylinder, meaning that a family may need about 640 shekels ($207.37) per month just to secure cooking gas. Electricity prices have also increased from 18 shekels ($5.83) per unit to 25 shekels ($8.10), while the cost of living for families who often rely on alternatives such as kerosene stoves (babur) for cooking instead of wood has risen sharply.

Price hikes do not stop here. Meat has become prohibitively expensive, essential medicines are increasingly inaccessible at reasonable prices, and even the simplest Eid traditions are now out of reach for many. This price manipulation reflects how some traders exploit the economic fragility and psychological pressure faced by residents, intensifying feelings of injustice and frustration among the population.

The ongoing war, repeated violations of ceasefire arrangements, and Israel’s broader strategy of using external conflicts as justification for military pressure have turned the narrative of “continuous security threats from Gaza” into a recurring pretext for closing crossings or using them as a tool of control. In this way, Gaza has increasingly become entangled in wider regional tensions and military calculations.

Under these circumstances, Eid al-Fitr in Gaza has become a symbol of daily hardship. Families are forced to choose between basic necessities and the traditions of the holiday. Meat, vegetables and cooking gas have become luxuries for many, while the majority struggle simply to secure the essentials of daily life.

Even when supplies exist, the monopolisation of goods and unjustified price hikes make the local market fragile and expose the weakness of Gaza’s economic structure. Every attempt to stabilise prices or increase supply faces strict restrictions linked to the blockade, creating opportunities for traders to secure quick profits at the expense of ordinary civilians.

In the end, Gaza’s crisis is not merely an economic issue; it reflects a complex intersection of occupation, blockade, commercial exploitation, and regional and international policies that have left the territory marginalised.

Eid al-Fitr, once a symbol of joy, has become a reminder of a lost celebration, but also a call for the international community to take meaningful action: to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid, protect civilians from exploitation and prevent human suffering from being turned into an opportunity for profit.

Whether you’re Irish by blood or Irish just for the day — you want to head to the best spots in the UK to ring in the festivities — and that’s where we come in.

St Patrick’s Day is just around the corner and it’s the one day of the year people really like to let loose and celebrate.

Every year on March 17, people all over the world outside of Ireland — but especially the UK — come out in hordes to celebrate St Paddy’s Day. We’re talking lively parades, a sea of endless green, and booze. Lots and lots of booze.

Whether you’re Irish by blood or Irish just for the day — you want to head to the best spots in the UK to ring in the festivities. And that’s where we come in.

It goes without saying that the capital cities of Belfast in Northern Ireland and Dublin in the Republic of Ireland are must-visits if you’re looking for the ultimate St Paddy’s celebrations, but for those of you who can’t make it all the way to Ireland — don’t worry, we got you.

We’ve compiled a list of the best cities in Britain where you can celebrate St Patrick’s Day this year, so whether you’re planning to head out with a group of mates or go on a solo adventure, make sure to give these spots a whirl.

Let the Guinness and the good times roll.

London

It’s no surprise London is on this list. The UK’s capital city hosts a massive St Paddy’s Parade every year, and this year it’s going to be bigger and better than ever.

March 15 will see the official parade weave its way from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square, with Irish music, pageantry, dance troupes, floats, and marching bands on display, along with a free-for-all party in Trafalgar Square for the public to enjoy featuring live music, comedy, food and drink.

It’s not just the parade that’s a draw — the weekend closest to March 17 always sees a flurry of activity as London’s thriving Irish community comes out in full force — along with just about every other person looking for a fun time. The Guinness Open Gate Brewery has also recently arrived in the city, hosting a line-up of craic, comedy, and electric music.

Look no further than London for a truly epic time.

Birmingham

The UK’s second largest city is undoubtedly one of the best to celebrate St Patrick’s Day in. In fact, it was one of the first cities in the country to begin hosting St Patrick’s Day celebrations, with a dedicated parade for the day since 1952.

With endless welcoming pubs, restaurants and clubs, there’s no dearth of exciting ways to celebrate the Irish holiday in Birmingham.

While the city’s annual St Patrick’s Day Parade has unfortunately been cancelled once again this year, there’s still more than enough to do in Brummy to get the celebrations going.

Revellers can instead head to St Patrick’s Family Fun Day at the Irish Centre on March 15 which will see a host of activities and entertainment including live bands, music and plenty of food and drink.

Or you can just head down to one of the local pubs — because parade or no parade, St Paddy’s Day is always a rip-roaringly fun time in Birmingham.

Manchester

There’s no way Manchester wasn’t going to be on this list. The city is all set to host its Irish parade for Paddy’s Day on March 15 and revellers can enjoy foot-tapping live Irish music, mouthwatering food, drinks and much more.

Expect to see “plenty of bright costumes, lively parades, and fun events happening across the city”.

In fact, the 10-day Manchester Irish Festival has been running since March 7 and will go on till March 17, with the parade on Sunday being the event’s highlight.

Liverpool

Liverpool is another UK city that’s always a good time on St Patrick’s Day. Irish pubs, karaoke bars and top-class entertainment means if you’re in Liverpool, it’s going to be a hell of a time.

Those hoping for a more peaceful and religious St Paddy’s Day can make their way to Liverpool Cathedral which is Britain’s biggest.

The 10th Annual Liverpool St Patrick’s Day Parade will take place at the Old Irish Centre on March 17, Tuesday. The anniversary parade promises to be “the biggest and best yet — with music, dance, colour, and Irish pride filling the streets. Bands, floats, and community groups are all welcome, and the whole city is invited to join in the festivities”, as per the official website.

In 1936, Irish Bostonian entertainment lawyer Tom Bergin founded L.A.’s first Irish pub, the Old Horseshoe Tavern, on Wilshire Boulevard. The bar was later renamed in his honor and relocated to its current Tudor Revival-style building off Fairfax Avenue in 1949.

The tavern claims to have introduced Irish coffee to the U.S. — though some argue that San Francisco’s Buena Vista Cafe holds that title. Either way, Tom Bergin’s is one of the oldest bars in continuous operation in L.A. and boasts the second-oldest liquor license in the city. And its Irish coffee is still one of the best you’ll find.

Today, L.A.’s Irish pub tradition extends to Santa Monica, Long Beach and Woodland Hills, with many founded by Irish immigrants seeking to bring a bit of their homeland to the West Coast in the form of Guinness pints, corned beef and cabbage and traditional Irish folk music.

Whether you’re celebrating St. Patrick’s Day or just looking for somewhere to split the G, here are 13 Irish pubs to check out in L.A. — Danielle Dorsey