07/23/26 11:03:00
Printable Page
07/23 11:02 CDT Trump will welcome the World Series champion Dodgers to the
White House
Trump will welcome the World Series champion Dodgers to the White House
By WILL WEISSERT
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) --- President Donald Trump is welcoming Shohei Ohtani and the
reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers to the White House on
Thursday with a Rose Garden event celebrating their second title in as many
years.
The Dodgers edged the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 last October to become the
first repeat champions in a quarter century. Trump feted the team in the White
House East Room in April 2025 to mark their 2024 World Series championship
Sports teams visiting Trump at the White House have sometimes been a source of
controversy dating to his first term. That includes 2018, when the president
rescinded an invitation to the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles after
many players suggested they might skip such a trip.
This time, Dodgers star right fielder Mookie Betts isn't coming, saying he
prefers to spend what is a scheduled day off for the team with his family ---
even though he did come for the 2025 visit. The team's manager, Dave Roberts,
suggested that the trip is more about winning than politics.
"My company line, my personal line, is, I hope that we get this invitation
every year because that's the goal, to win a championship, to get this
invitation to the White House," Roberts said Friday.
The Dodgers originally considered coming to the White House this past April
during a series with the Washington Nationals, but a crowded early season
schedule didn't permit that. Instead, they're in the nation's capital during
the off-day between a just-completed series at the Philadelphia Phillies and
Friday's opener against the New York Mets in Queens.
Championship baseball teams have been coming to the White House since 1869,
when President Ulysses S. Grant hosted the Cincinnati Red Stockings. They were
the first fully professional team to visit the White House and went undefeated
that season, though the World Series wasn't established in its modern form
until 1903.
Since the Dodgers' visit last year, Trump has revamped the Rose Garden and
added a patio area reminiscent of his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
Trump, a baseball fan and New York native, has for years been closely
associated with the New York Yankees, whose late, longtime owner George
Steinbrenner was a close friend. But the president singled out the New York
Mets at a rally in Georgia on Wednesday, when he praised the ownership of the
local Atlanta Braves and slammed the Mets for their sky-high payroll and losing
record.
Trump was joined on stage during that event by former Braves manager Brian
Snitker, and Mike Plant, president and CEO of the Braves Development Company.
"I like baseball," Trump said before adding, "You know, the Mets have the
highest salary in baseball, and they lose all the time. And I'm like, maybe we
can steal this guy."
"There are teams like that, where they never go down," Trump said. "Then you
have other teams --- ?We're rebuilding.' They've been rebuilding for years. I
don't want to mention teams 'cause I know all the owners. They're all friends
of mine."
|
