WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump feted Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers at the White House on Thursday, calling the team \u201cone of the great brands anywhere in the world\u201d during a Rose Garden event celebrating its second title in as many years.<\/p>\n
Trump said the Dodgers edging the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 last fall capped \u201ca hell of a series.” He indicated he was surprised to learn that the Dodgers had never before won consecutive titles but also mused about a third in a row.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m thrilled to say welcome back to the White House,” he said. “And maybe I\u2019ll see you again next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The president saluted the team in the East Room in April 2025 to mark their 2024 World Series championship over the New York Yankees. He said before the latest event that he was most excited about meeting Ohtani, whom he compared at length to the legendary Babe Ruth \u2014 even saying the Dodgers star was arguably the best hitter and pitcher in baseball.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s truly a great \u2014 when you talk about a brand \u2014 it’s one of the great brands anywhere in the world,\u201d Trump said of the Dodgers. He spoke in front of a table with two World Series trophies and a Trump 47 jersey, which the team presented to him.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers also gave Trump what looked like a replica of a World Series ring. That prompted Trump to exclaim: \u201cWow. Do I have to report this? I don’t want to report this” before slipping the ring into the inside pocket of his suit jacket.
\nTrump says Iran war has kept him from following baseball closely<\/p>\n
Those in the crowd wore blue Dodgers caps to guard against bright overhead sun, and the band played a jazzy instrumental version of Randy Newman\u2019s \u201cI Love LA\u201d before Trump took the stage.<\/p>\n
Trump described last year’s World Series’ epic Game 3 during which the Dodgers won 6-5 in 18 innings. Trump said he stayed up until around 3 a.m. to watch, noting that \u201cit was a long one, but it was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was a game that you were going to lose about four or five times, and you ended up winning,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cLuck is OK, too, right?\u201d Dodgers manager Dave Roberts agreed: \u201cLuck is OK.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut with talent you get a lot of luck,\u201d Trump continued.<\/p>\n
The president said he spoke briefly with Roberts before the event and learned that his team currently has the best record in baseball, noting, \u201cI’ve been a little busy with Iran and some other things.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was his only reference during the event to fighting in the Middle East, which has escalated on both sides in recent days.<\/p>\n
Roberts also spoke briefly, saying, \u201cWe\u2019re going for a three-peat.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019t established in its modern form until 1903.<\/p>\n
Sports teams’ visits to the Trump White House have sometimes been a source of controversy. In 2018, the president rescinded an invitation to the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles after many players suggested they might skip such a trip.<\/p>\n
Dodgers star right fielder Mookie Betts wasn\u2019t at Thursday\u2019s Rose Garden event, though he did make the 2025 visit. He said he prefers to spend the team\u2019s scheduled days off with his family.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t permit that. Instead, they\u2019re in the nation\u2019s capital during the off-day between a just-completed series against the Philadelphia Phillies and Friday\u2019s opener against the New York Mets in Queens.
\nThe White House has changed since the Dodgers’ last visit<\/p>\n
Over the past year, Trump has revamped the Rose Garden and added a patio area reminiscent of his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. At Thursday’s event for the Dodgers, he referenced the \u201c Walk of Fame \u201d installed on the colonnade, which features plaques of past presidents along with partisan insults against Joe Biden and other Democrats.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could put some of the great Dodgers on the wall,” Trump joked, \u201cbut I figured maybe it’s more appropriate that we put the presidents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump, a baseball fan and New York native, has for years been closely associated with the Yankees, whose late, longtime owner George Steinbrenner was a close friend. Trump referenced Steinbrenner on Thursday, saying, \u201cHe would do anything to win” before telling the Dodgers’ team owners, “But you\u2019re doing the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The president isn’t always so complimentary of teams, though. During a rally in Georgia on Wednesday, he praised the ownership of the local Atlanta Braves and slammed the Mets for their sky-high payroll and losing record.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201dYou know, the Mets have the highest salary in baseball, and they lose all the time,” Trump said then. And I\u2019m like, maybe we can steal this guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are teams like that, where they never go down,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThen you have other teams \u2014 \u2018We\u2019re rebuilding.\u2019 They\u2019ve been rebuilding for years. I don\u2019t want to mention teams \u2019cause I know all the owners. They\u2019re all friends of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
This story has been corrected to show Game 7 was last November, not last October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump feted Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers at the White House on Thursday, calling the team \u201cone of the great brands anywhere in the world\u201d during a Rose Garden event celebrating its second title in as many years. Trump said the Dodgers edging … Continue reading Trump fetes Dodgers at the White House again, saying the team is ‘one of the great brands’<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1452],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1527669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-07-26 03:16:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1527669"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1527670,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527669\/revisions\/1527670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1527669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1527669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1527669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}