On Monday, in celebration of the Dodgers becoming baseball’s first back-to-back champion in 25 years, Los Angeles will throw another party for the Dodgers.
The Dodgers’ 2025 championship parade starts Monday at 11 a.m. and runs through downtown, followed by a rally at Dodger Stadium. The rally requires a ticket, which can be obtained starting at noon Sunday at dodgers.com/postseason.
For fans with rally tickets, parking lot gates will open at 8:30 a.m. and stadium gates at 9 a.m. The event is expected to start at about 12:15 p.m.
The parade and rally will be aired live on Channels 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 and 11 as well as SportsNet LA and AM 570, the team said.
In last year’s rally, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Ice Cube performed next to one another, with Roberts dancing and Ice Cube singing.
At one point, future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw took his turn at the microphone and hollered, “Dodger for life!”
In September, Kershaw announced he would retire at the end of the season. In his only World Series appearance, he got a critical out in the Dodgers’ 18-inning victory in Game 3.
He’ll make his final Dodger Stadium appearance as a player as part of a second consecutive championship rally. He’ll be back: The Dodgers will retire his No. 22 — they retire the number of all their Hall of Famers — and he’d certainly be in line to throw ceremonial first pitches in the Dodgers’ future postseason runs.
For now, though: Three-time champion Dodger for life.
In addition to the suspension, Major League Baseball announced Roberts was fined an undisclosed amount. Padres manager Mike Shildt also was suspended one game and fined, and Padres right-handed pitcher Robert Suarez was suspended three games and fined for “intentionally hitting” Shohei Ohtani with a pitch in the ninth inning.
“I support it. I think that obviously, I never want to make the game about the managers, it shouldn’t be,” Roberts said Friday. “It should be about the players and winning.”
He continued: “It unfortunately came to a point where we became the focus and that’s not the way it should be.”
Bench coach Danny Lehmann will manage the Dodgers against the Nationals.
The back-and-forth animosity on the field came to a peak Thursday when Dodgers relief pitcher Jack Little hit Fernando Tatis Jr. with a pitch in the ninth inning.
Shildt exited the dugout and pointed at Roberts, causing the Dodgers manager to charge toward home plate. Roberts bumped Shildt, causing the benches to clear and bullpens to empty. Both managers were ejected.
SAN DIEGO — Dave Roberts wasn’t pretending to be calm. He was calm.
None of this was new to him, the depleted starting rotation, the fatigued bullpen, the division rivals within striking distance.
Under similar circumstances in past seasons, Roberts pointed out, “We’ve gotten to the other side.”
The Dodgers won a World Series like this last year. They have won the National League West in 12 of the last 13 seasons.
They usually reach “the other side.”
So rather than panic, Roberts waits. He waits for the end of a particularly difficult 26-game stretch, and when Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell can pitch again.
Roberts won’t say this publicly, but the Dodgers just have to tread water until they are whole.
They claimed a 5-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday to win for the second time in their three-game series at Petco Park, preserving their lead in the NL West.
The Dodgers host the second-place San Francisco Giants in a three-game series that starts Friday and the third-place Padres in a four-game series that opens Monday, after which their schedule will become noticeably softer.
Their remaining opponents before the All-Star break: the Washington Nationals, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox, Houston Astros and Milwaukee Brewers. The post-All-Star Game schedule is extremely manageable as well.
Provided a couple of their starting pitchers return as anticipated, the Dodgers should be able to not just win their division but also secure a top-two seed in the NL, which would give them a first-round bye in the playoffs. As it is, the Dodgers are 41-27, only ½ game behind the Chicago Cubs, the league’s current No. 2 team.
Dodgers players have taken on Roberts’ understated confidence and make-do-with-what-you-have approach, which explains how the team has survived a 19-game stretch in which every opponent had a winning record. The Dodgers were 10-9 in those games.
“Character,” Roberts said.
Roberts specifically pointed to Teoscar Hernández, who broke out of a slump Wednesday to hit a key three-run home run; to Freddie Freeman, who he revealed is now dealing with a quadriceps injury in addition to his ankle problems; to Mookie Betts, who has continued to play high-level shortstop while playing with a broken toe.
“Guys are not running from the middle part of the season, the stretch we’re going through,” Roberts said. “We’re just finding ways to win.”
Teoscar Hernández circles the bases after his three-run homer.
(Derrick Tuskan / Associated Press)
The series win against the Padres was also a credit to Roberts’ ability, and willingness, to play the long game.
With Tony Gonsolin put on the injured list last week, the Dodgers were forced to schedule two bullpen games in San Diego. By punting on the first and refraining from using any of his go-to relievers in a loss, Roberts ensured his team would be positioned to win the series finale.
Again, this was nothing new, as Roberts basically forfeited games in both the NL Championship Series and World Series last year with the remainder of the series in mind.
Roberts elected to send opener Ben Casparius back to the mound to pitch a fourth inning on Wednesday rather than replace him with Jack Dreyer, whom Roberts has grown to trust. The extra inning made a difference. Lou Trivino pitched to the bottom of the Padres’ lineup in the fifth inning, allowing Roberts to deploy Dreyer against the heart of the order in the sixth.
When Michael Kopech walked the bases loaded in the seventh inning, Roberts responded with the necessary degree of urgency rather than allow the recently activated Kopech to try to pitch his way out of trouble. Roberts summoned Anthony Banda, who retired Luis Arráez and Manny Machado to maintain the Dodgers’ 4-2 advantage.
“The bullpen has certainly been used and pushed,” Roberts said. “I just think it speaks to the character.”
And it says something about the manager as well.
Roberts is now in his 10th season as the manager of the Dodgers. He has managed 1,426 games for them in the regular season and another 100 in the postseason. At this point, there’s not much he hasn’t seen, including what the team is dealing with now.
