Denied in 2020, Dodgers finally get their World Series parade
The Los Angeles Dodgers will finally get their parade.
The team announced that it would commemorate its World Series championship on Friday with a downtown parade followed by a celebration at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers earned that right with their World Series-clinching 7-6 victory over the New York Yankees in the Bronx on Thursday night.
The team said Wednesday that because of logistics, traffic and timing, fans won't be able to attend both the parade and the celebration at Dodger Stadium.
Friday's celebrations, however, will be particularly poignant for both the Dodgers and their fans in Los Angeles.
Their last championship came in 2020, during a COVID-shortened season. Because of restrictions due to the pandemic, the entire World Series was played at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. And after the Dodgers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in six games for the franchise's seventh championship, the city was denied a parade because of those pandemic restrictions.
The Los Angeles Lakers also won the NBA championship that year, and no public celebration was ever held to commemorate the occasion.
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Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen spoke on Wednesday night about how the team wanted to put any stigma attached to the 2020 championship to rest.
"There's been a lot of people that want to discredit 2020, and I don't want to harp on this alot, but it's so great to see the guys that are still here, from Doc [Dave Roberts] to players to front office, being able to finally silence the critics on this," he said, "because every year has its challenges, everybody has the same playing field. That's a great team. This team has zero quit in it, and every single night, if we don't have the outcome we want, there's always guys out there picking each other up and challenging ourselves to be better. And that's why we won tonight."
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When it comes to Friday's celebrations, 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.
Adding to the special nature of the parade for Dodgers fans, Friday is also the birthday of late pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, who died on Oct. 22 at the age of 63. Valenzuela was an iconic figure in Los Angeles and a member of Dodgers championship teams in 1981 and 1988.
A portion of the proceeds from the ticketed stadium event will be donated to the Los Angeles Dodger Foundation.
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The Associated Press contributed to this story.