“In keeping with long-standing baseball tradition, President Trump has invited the 2024 World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers to the White House when they play in Washington D.C. on April 7,” read the post. “The Dodgers look forward to visiting the White House and celebrating our title.”
The team also announced that members of the team would visit Capitol Hill on April 8.
The champions of professional and collegiate sports leagues are traditionally invited to the White House by the president in a special ceremony honoring the team’s accomplishments. This practice was not always honored in recent years, particularly during Trump’s first term. Several teams declined the invite as a form of protest against Trump’s beliefs, platform, and political agenda.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts discussed visiting the White House with his team, while speaking to reporters before a Spring Training game on Tuesday, ESPN reported. In 2019, he said he opposed visiting Trump, claiming that he would not attend if the opportunity presented itself when the Dodgers were championship contenders at the time (but ultimately did not win the title). He had a different perspective this week.
“It wasn’t a formal conversation that we had as a ballclub,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s certainly a huge honor to get the invitation to the White House. It allows us to celebrate our 2024 championship. To my understanding, every World Series champion gets that honor, so it’s a great honor for all of us.”
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“I’m going,” added the Dodgers manager. “I respect the position. It’s the highest office in our country, certainly in the world, so, looking forward to it.”
The Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees in the 120th World Series, four games to one, in the best-of-seven contest. The team clinched the championship on Oct. 30 in an exciting 7-6 Game 5 win at New York. It was the franchise’s eighth World Series victory overall.
