Dodgers — and their fans — have their day: An LA lovefest, decades in the making

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Thousands of Dodger fans celebrate the World Champion Dodgers at Grand Central Park in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. The Dodgers held a parade and event at Dodger Stadium to celebrate their World Series title. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Clayton Kershaw cried. Kike Hernandez swaggered. Dave Roberts smoked a cigar.

And Los Angeles rejoiced.

Their beloved Dodgers are the 2024 World Series champions. And a city so accustomed to championship parades finally got the one they had spent 36 years dreaming of.

Two days after the Dodgers clinched their first full-season championship since 1988, around 225,000 supporters, according to the LAPD, descended on Downtown Los Angeles to celebrate with the ball club they love. Another 42,458 filled Dodger Stadium.

But the official numbers only confirmed the obvious: The area surrounding the parade route – from City Hall to Fifth and Flower streets – was flooded by a sea of blue-clad fans paying tribute to their beloved team at last.

But the parade and subsequent celebration at Dodger Stadium — which also featured an encore presentation by Compton’s own Ice Cube — on Friday, Nov. 1, was much more than a triumphant denouement to a title-winning season.

For Walker Buehler, it represented redemption. For Shohei Ohtani, his freedom from futility. For Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and the entire Dodgers organization, a salve from too many past postseason failures.

For Kershaw, the franchise icon, it was a dream fulfilled.

And for the thousands of fans who lined the parade route and filled Dodger Stadium for the encore celebration, it was about years of heartbreak, despair, longing and frustration being washed away at last.

“We waited for years for this,” Freddy Chulo, of San Clemente, said at Dodger Stadium. “I think that it brought all of Los Angeles together as a whole. The diversity of everybody being here was really great.”

The Dodgers are one of the most tightly woven strands in the fabric of Los Angeles.

The fans showed that on Friday.

Fans celebrate during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Dodger fans celebrate the Los Angeles Dodgers World Series championship at Dodger Stadium on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Los Angeles Dodgers fans during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Dodger stadium with Fernando Valenzuela number 34 on the mound during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Los Angeles Dodgers fans celebrates during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Fans arrive at Dodger Stadium for the Los Angeles Dodgers World Series victory celebration on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Lindsay Horvath, LA County Supervisor, Hilda Solis, LA County Supervisor, Katheryn Barger, LA County Supervisor and Paul Krekorian, LA City Councilmember, were on hand for the Dodger parade at Los Angeles City Hall on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. The Dodgers held a parade and event at Dodger Stadium to celebrate their World Series title. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Dodger fans celebrate their World Championship title on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. The Dodgers held a parade and event at Dodger Stadium to celebrate their World Series title. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Dodger fans wait for the Los Angeles Dodgers to parade into Dodger Stadium to celebrate their World Series championship on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Thousands of Dodger fans wave to the Dodgers as they pass by Los Angeles City Hall to celebrate their World Championship title on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. The Dodgers held a parade and event at Dodger Stadium to celebrate their World Series title. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

The LAPD donned Dodger caps in honor of the Dodgers World Championship title on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. The Dodgers held a parade and event at Dodger Stadium to celebrate their World Series title. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Dodger fans show off their championship rings on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. The Dodgers held a parade and event at Dodger Stadium to celebrate their World Series title. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Dodger mariachi singer Julian Torres gets a selfie with Thousands of Dodger fans at Grand Central Park at the Dodger World Championship parade on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. The Dodgers held a parade and event at Dodger Stadium to celebrate their World Series title. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Vincent Rodriguez brought his signed Fernando Valenzuela..Corn Flakes box to celebrate the Dodgers World Championship parade on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. The Dodgers held a parade and event at Dodger Stadium to celebrate their World Series title. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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Nick Ortiz of Whittier with his I love LA NY crossed out t-shirt during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Fans wearing Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman jerseys during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Hundreds of fans enter the stadium and try to enter the team store during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Fans arrive at Dodger Stadium for the Los Angeles Dodgers World Series victory celebration on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Chris Verrette of Corona waits to enter the team store during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Zerduco family of Chatsworth pose for a picture with their Dodger clothes during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Dodger fans take selfies during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Fans arrive at Dodger Stadium for the Los Angeles Dodgers World Series victory celebration on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Baseball fans leave messages for Dodger star ..Fernando Valenzuela on his birthday as the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate their World Series championship at Dodger Stadium on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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Chants of “Freddie! Freddie!” rang out from the parade route to Dodger Stadium as confetti shot from contraptions every 10 or so feet. Kershaw, long the tortured face of the franchise, received an ovation at Chavez Ravine that brought him to tears. Multiple fans who flocked to the celebration spoke about what the Dodgers and this World Series win means to their families.

“We’re here because we’re huge fans,” said Jahnett Lopez, who drove in from the Coachella Valley for the parade and was draped in Dodgers gear.

Her father was a Dodgers fan. She’s a Dodgers fan. And now, Lopez said, her son is a fan.

“It’s gonna continue (for) generations and generations through the family,” Lopez said. “It’s really part of our lives.”

The Dodgers reciprocated the love.

Stan Kasten, the president and CEO of the Dodgers, said the franchise owes its success to the fans. Multiple players declared their love for Los Angeles – and their appreciation for their fans.

“This is such a special moment for me,” Ohtani, who signed with the Dodgers this offseason after six years with the Angels, told the crowd at Chavez Ravine. “I’m so honored to be here and be part of this team. Thank you, Los Angeles, and thank you, fans.”

A long time coming

This parade had been 36 years in the making. That alone would be enough to make it worthwhile.

But for longtime fans and the Dodgers organization, Friday’s celebration was about more than that: It was about the history of the franchise, it was the team’s connection to this city – the way the Dodgers were connected to Brooklyn before they relocated here in 1958 – and it was about hope renewed after repeatedly being ripped away:

Hope that this is just the beginning. Hope that these new boys of summer have turned into the titans of autumn. That L.A.’s beloved Dodgers — finally free from the mockery they endured over their 2020 COVID-tinged title and the burden they shouldered over too frequently falling short of expectations — will begin a run even more dominant than the last dozen years.

“We waited for years for this. I think that it brought all of Los Angeles together as a whole.”

–Freddy Chulo, of San Clemente

And hope that parades in Los Angeles will become as synonymous with autumn as Halloween, Dia de los Muertos and the Santa Ana Winds.

“Let’s get ready to run it back,” Roberts, now a two-time championship manager, told the crowd and his team at Dodger Stadium.

Kershaw also said more championships were coming. And Mookie Betts, the team’s All-Star right fielder, said he wanted five or six more.

“I don’t want to say this is once a lifetime,” said Jesus Anaya of Laverne, who came to the parade with his 18-year-old son Lorenzo, “because they’re going to do it again.

“But it’s a memory, right? It’s all about these special moments.”

The Dodgers are good at producing special moments. But moments like Friday’s have been all too rare.

Sure, the Dodgers, for much of their history the scrappy underdogs – “dem bums,” as Brooklynites called them – are now the behemoths of Major League Baseball.

They’ve won the National League West 11 out of the last 12 years. They regularly win 100-plus games a season. The 2024 World Series marked their fourth appearance in the Fall Classic in eight years. They sellout every game, have a mega television deal and are widely considered to be the best-run organization in baseball.

And they have stars aplenty: Betts and Freeman, Kershaw and Buehler. During previous seasons, they also had Corey Seager, who has two World Series MVPs to his name (one with the Dodgers) and Dodgers legend Justin Turner.

But they also have plenty of failures.

In 2017, they lost the World Series to the Houston Astros in a thrilling seven games. It later turned out the Astros had cheated.

And so, the devastating images of Kershaw after being rocked in Game 5 in Houston went from another tragic sorrow to one of Dodgers martyrdom — since the Astros hitters knew what pitches he would throw.

The title had been stolen from the Dodgers and their fans. Their ace had been denied the chance to cement his legacy.

The next year, the Dodgers lost in the World Series again, this time to a superior Red Sox team that still had Betts. Hope for a title turned to despair once more.

Then came 2020. The season was only 60 games — but the Dodgers were still dominant. That strange, COVID-tinged season, played largely without fans until deep into the playoffs, ended with a championship.

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The Dodgers beat the Tampa Bay Rays in six games – but they did so in a neutral site in Texas.

And there was no tribute through the streets of Los Angeles.

Walker Buehler shares a moment with his wife McKenzie during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Daniel Hudson hugs teammates during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Alex Vesia of the Los Angeles Dodgers holds up the championship belt during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Shohei Ohtani’s wife Mamiko Tanaka with their dog Decoy during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Kiki Hernandez celebrates during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

The Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate their World Series championship at Dodger Stadium on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Blake Treinen holds the trophy as he talks to the fans during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Miguel Rojas, left, along with Freddie Freeman does their dance during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Daniel Hudson speaks as teammate Blake Treinen hoists the trophy during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Chris Taylor of the Los Angeles Dodgers during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Announcer Joe Davis during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Max Muncy of the Los Angeles Dodgers during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Artist Ice Cube performs during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Manager Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers with Ice Cube during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts celebrates the 2024 World Series championship at Dodger Stadium
on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Manager Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Freddie Freeman of the Los Angeles Dodgers tips his cap to the fans and his teammates during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers speaks to the crowd during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate as he hoists the championship trophy during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Kiki Hernandez, center, celebrates with teammate Teoscar Hernández, left, during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers speaks in english during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Clayton Kershaw hugs manager Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

Shohei Ohtani and his dog ride in a double-decker bus in a parade through Los Angeles to celebrate the World Championship on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. The Dodgers held a parade and event at Dodger Stadium to celebrate their World Series title. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Dodger Manager Dave Roberts hoists the World Championship Trophy during a parade in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. The Dodgers held a parade and event at Dodger Stadium to celebrate their World Series title. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Clayton Kershaw waves to thousands of Dodger fans as they pass by Los Angeles City Hall to celebrate their World Championship title on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. The Dodgers held a parade and event at Dodger Stadium to celebrate their World Series title. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Dodger’s Mookie Betts waves to thousands of Dodger fans as they pass by Los Angeles City Hall to celebrate their World Championship title on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. The Dodgers held a parade and event at Dodger Stadium to celebrate their World Series title. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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The subsequent years were even harsher: They lost in the NLCS in 2021, and then in the Division Series in 2022 and ’23 — despite adding Freeman to the team. Those last two failures stung even more because they came against divisional foes.

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Before the Dodgers signed Ohtani – and then ace pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and hometown kid Tyler Glasnow, among others, this past offseason felt bleak to many. Kershaw, their aging, weary ace, needed shoulder surgery. Buehler — a previous postseason beast — was recovering from his second Tommy John surgery. Betts and Freeman hadn’t performed in the last two postseasons.

And even this season, at times, seemed ill-fated, despite Ohtani, Betts and Freeman leading the way.

Ohtani had the first 50 home run, 50 stolen base season in history, but also couldn’t pitch because of offseason shoulder surgery. The Dodgers lineup was inevitable, but so, it seemed, was the team losing more than rotation’s worth of starting pitchers to injuries.

Betts and Freeman were their usual superstar selves. But Betts missed two months because he fractured a bone in his left hand. Freeman missed some time as well, because life got in the way when his son Max was hospitalized and subsequently diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, which attacks the nerves.

When Max began recovering and Freeman returned to the lineup, the Dodgers fans gave him an ovation that moved him to tears.

“You showed up for me and my family,” Freeman said Friday. “It was one of the greatest moments I’ve had on a baseball field.”

Still, the rival Padres looked like the better team toward the end of the season and when Freeman severely sprained his ankle just before the postseason, the Dodgers’ postseason prospects did not look good.

But this team found something they didn’t have in recent years: Grit. Fight. Perseverance.

And an underdog mentality that may not have been warranted given their payroll.

Freeman fought through the pain to get on the field. And the Dodgers took down the Padres in five games in the NLDS. In the NLCS, they beat the Mets in six games.

And that set a date with the Yankees, just like in 1955 and in Valenzuela’s rookie year.

In Game 1 of the World Series, Freeman did his best impression of Kirk Gibson’s iconic walk-off home run in the first game of the 1988 World Series.

Like Gibson, Freeman was ailing. Like the ’88 team, the ’24 team was losing by a run and were down to their last out.

But Gibson hit a two-run home run on a full-count backdoor slider.

Freeman swung at the first pitch — and hit the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history.

And Freeman didn’t stop there. He had four home runs and a record-tying 12 runs batted in. And he was named the World Series MVP.

“I did everything I could to get on the field for you guys,” Freeman said on Friday, “and I’m glad I did because we won a championship.”

Walker Buehler of the Los Angeles Dodgers hoists the trophy during a celebration of the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

But they may not have, if it weren’t for the heroics of Walker Buehler. The Dodgers erased a five-run deficit in Game 5 on Wednesday and had the lead going into the final frame. But the bullpen, which had done a Herculean job all postseason, was taxed. In came Buehler, whoses lone win and 5.38 ERA during the 2024 season represented the worst of his career.

Postseason Buehler, though, has always been different. He sat the Yankees down in order.

And a season that seemed destined to end in failure became a triumph.

On Friday, an ecstatic Buehler wore a Dodgers jersey — but not his own. Instead, he donned the No. 55 of Orel Hershiser, who had hisown heroics in 1988 — including the last out of the World Series; on Wednesday, Hershisher, in the Spectrum SportsNet studios, wore Buehler’s No. 21.

And on the Dodger Stadium field on Friday, Buehler spotted another legendary ace. He ran to him, jumped and landed in the legend’s arms. That legend was Kershaw.

A deep connection

Friday’s celebration was a reminder of a singular truth: Los Angeles loves the Dodgers.

But that wasn’t always the case.

“Dodger for life!”

–Clayton Kershaw

The Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958. Things started well for the Los Angeles Dodgers. They won the World Series in 1959, 1963 and 1965, behind the golden arms of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. But the team wasn’t yet part of the city’s fabric like they had been in Brooklyn.

At least part of that was because of resentment in L.A.’s prodigious Mexican-American community over the city’s use of eminent domain in the Hispanic-heavy area of Chavez Ravine, the eventual home of the Dodgers.

That all changed in 1981.

The year of Fernandomania.

Fernando Valenzuela, a pudgy-but-prolific pitcher from a small town in Mexico, burst onto the scene on Opening Day, recording a shutout — the first in a string of eight starts that have since become legend.

Mexican-Americans flocked to Dodger Stadium to see their new, unlikely hero who looked like him. He looked to the sky with every pitch. He threw a devastating screwball. He helped L.A. win the World Series that year — and took home both the Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards for his effort.

Valenzuela pitched 11 seasons for the Dodgers, starting in 1980, and ranks ninth on the franchise’s all-time win list. His rookie season in 1981 sparked the ‘Fernandomania’ phenomenon as he went 8-0 with five shutouts to start the season.

The Dodgers fan base was changed forever. And the franchise has been woven into the city’s fabric ever since.

Valenzuela died on Oct. 22. Friday, the day of the parade, would have been his 64th birthday.

Reminders of Valenzuela’s legacy were myriad on Friday: Fans donned jerseys. Announcer Joe Davis wished him a happy birthday. And Roberts said what many Dodgers fans undoubtedly felt:

“This one’s for you,” he said about Valenzuela.

Johnny Leon, 22, of Pomona, was among those who wore Valenzuela’s No. 34 jersey on Friday.

“So many family members love him and I’ve seen his highlights,” Leon said. “I wish he could be here to see this.”

Miguel Ramirez, 49, of Norwalk, highlighted the connection the icon helped foster between the city and the Dodgers.

“Fernando brought so many Hispanics to the game,” Ramirez said. “To be here today on his birthday is special. (The) Dodgers (are) family.”

The Dodgers, their fans are family

That could sum up the entire day.

Los Angeles and the Dodgers came together as a family.

They celebrated together at least.

Los Angeles and the Dodgers survived multiple heartbreaks together — so they could revel together on Friday.

For Buehler, it was redemption after an awful season. For Freeman and Betts, it was catharsis after past postseason letdowns. Up and down the roster, and even among the coaching staff and front office, there was vindication.

For Kershaw, who didn’t play in the postseason, it was a dream fulfilled. At last.

“I’ve waited for this day for a long time,” he said. “I didn’t have anything to do this with this championship. But this is the best feeling in the world.”

He then raised the tropy into the air. As the crowd roared, he shouted:

“Dodger for life!”

The fans at Dodger Stadium, along the parade route and watching at home felt the same:

Dodgers for life.

Staff writer Bill Plunkett contributed to this report.

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A long time coming

“We waited for years for this. I think that it brought all of Los Angeles together as a whole.”

–Freddy Chulo, of San Clemente

A deep connection

“Dodger for life!”

–Clayton Kershaw

The Dodgers, their fans are family

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