The Los Angeles Dodgers will indeed return to the White House after winning their second consecutive World Series title.
Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic and Jack Harris and Zain Khan of the California Post report the Dodgers are expected to make the trip despite recent calls to cancel it in light of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, with the former citing league sources and the latter citing White House sources. The Dodgers declined to comment to either media outlet.
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According to reports, a date has not yet been set, but the team typically visits the White House during its regular-season road series with the Washington Nationals. This year, the Dodgers’ series will be held April 3-5.
Shortly after the Dodgers’ dramatic win in Game 7, President Donald Trump extended an invitation to the Dodgers on social media:
“Congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers on a game won by incredible champions!!!” he wrote in The Truth Society. “A handful of people were never going to win that game or Game 6, for that matter. So many stars made it happen. Also, congratulations to the team owners. What a great job they did. See you at the White House!”
There had been no indication before Wednesday that the team planned to accept the offer, and Dodgers president Stan Kasten told the Los Angeles Times over the weekend that he had no update on the matter.
Despite backlash over a visit to the Trump White House last year, the team has maintained a united front, and there has been no apparent backlash despite past comments and actions, such as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts saying he would sit out the 2019 visit and Mookie Betts sitting out the Boston Red Sox’s visit after 2018.
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Kasten claims “all” players want to go in 2025, but at least one is less than enthusiastic. Kiké Hernández, a favorite among Puerto Rican fans and a critic of Trump in the past, said “it’s a lose-lose situation for me,” in comments to radio reporter Dave Vassegh.
As he did in 2025, Roberts described a possible trip as respectful of the office of the president in comments to The Times this past weekend:
“For me, I’m on one side: I’m a baseball manager,” Roberts told me Saturday at Dodgers Fan Fest. “That’s my job.
“I was raised by a man who served our country for 30 years and respected the highest office in our country. It doesn’t matter to me who holds this office, I’m going to the White House. I’ve never tried to be political…For me, I’m going to continue to try to do what tradition says and not try to make a political statement because I’m not a politician.”
Not everything is the same around the White House this time around, though. There will certainly be some tension in Los Angeles in 2025 over Trump’s response to wildfires ravaging parts of the city, but the president’s approval ratings have hit new lows recently due to ICE’s deadly operations in Minnesota (not to mention its continued presence in Los Angeles and other communities) and lingering questions about the Epstein dossier.
The Dodgers are clearly still opting to proceed as they did last year, but whether they present the same united front remains to be seen.
