Baseball-Ohtani teases ‘three-peat’ as Dodgers parade draws Los Angeles crowds

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By Lisa Richwine and Rory Carroll

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Ecstatic Dodgers fans basked in the glow of their team’s second World Series title in a row with a festive parade through the streets of downtown Los Angeles on Monday, days after a thrilling Game Seven win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Blue and white confetti showered the tens of thousands of fans who lined city streets and cheered on players riding atop double-decker buses on a sunny autumn day.

The Dodgers were two outs away from losing the championship in Saturday’s deciding game in Toronto. They rallied to become the first Major League Baseball team to repeat as World Series victors since the New York Yankees won three in a row from 1998 to 2000.

“This group of guys right now was never going to be denied to bring this city another championship,” manager Dave Roberts told a post-parade rally in a packed Dodger Stadium.

Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese pitcher-hitter who started Game Seven, thrilled the crowd by raising the possibility of a “three-peat” win in 2026.

“You guys are the greatest fans in the world,” Ohtani, who typically speaks Japanese in public, said in English. “I’m ready to get another ring next year. Let’s do it!”

Los Angeles-born celebrities Ice Cube and DJ Mustard helped rev up the stadium crowd. Mustard played “California Love” and “Not Like Us,” the Kendrick Lamar song that became an unofficial anthem for the Dodgers last year.

“They still not like us!” said actor Anthony Anderson, another Los Angeles native.

Along the parade route, Dodgers fan Jason White said he experienced every emotion during the rollercoaster World Series, which drew a huge television audience.

“Unbelievable,” the 38-year-old White said. “It was shocking. It was dramatic. I couldn’t watch. I had to watch secretly, you know what I mean? It was up and down, all the emotion. Classic, classic series.”

Tom Hirota, a 49-year-old businessman who moved to the United States from Osaka, was among many Japanese fans in attendance. Ohtani’s heroics, as well as those of World Series Most Valuable Player and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, have ignited interest in the team.

“I’m very happy,” Hirota said. “I never dreamed that a Japanese person would be able to achieve this much.”

The postseason celebration also served as an appreciative sendoff for retiring Dodger pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who called himself a “Dodger for life” after 18 seasons with the team. Kershaw said he was “blown away” by the fan support on display in the cheering crowds on Monday.

“It’s a perfect way to be done,” he said.

(Reporting Lisa Richwine and Rory Carroll; Additional reporting by Jane Ross and Jack Ferry; Editing by Mark Heinrich)