In pictures: Dodgers fans fete World Series title with party fit for Hollywood

As the Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series on Wednesday, the skies over The City of Angels immediately came to life with a flurry of fireworks as celebrations spread widely across the city.
The party hasn’t let up since and culminated with a massive parade through downtown and a rally at Dodger Stadium on Friday morning.
Fans lined the streets of downtown Los Angeles as a caravan of double-decker buses carrying the Dodgers players, coaches and families wound its way through an estimated crowd of 250,000 along the parade route. The procession began at City Hall and traveled past landmarks like the Walt Disney Concert Hall before finishing at Dodger Stadium for a rally with another 42,000 on hand for the festivities.

The Dodgers faithful have been waiting 36 years for a celebration of this magnitude — with the celebrations following the team’s 2020 title having been severely muted due to the COVID-19 pandemic — and the city more than made up for it.
Rapper and L.A. native Ice Cube, joined by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, opened the stadium proceedings and served as the party’s hype man with a performance of the de facto Dodgers anthem “It Was A Good Day.” It was a call back to his performance prior to Game 2 of the World Series, which was credited for the win in Kike Hernandez’s rally speech.

But it was the Dodgers’ stars who took center stage.
Sounding like a team on a mission for the next decade, Dodgers first baseman and World Series MVP Freddie Freeman took center stage saying he “couldn’t wait to run this back next year,” while outfielder and shortstop Mookie Betts called for five or six more championship rings in order to add to his MLB-leading total among active players of three (in 2018 with the Boston Red Sox and in 2020 and 2024 with the Dodgers). Chants of “Sign Teoscar!” brought unsung hero and pending free agent Teoscar Hernandez to tears.

Throughout the proceedings, Shohei Ohtani seemingly shied away from the spotlight, instead opting to put his teammates in the spotlight. But as he often does, when it was his turn “at-bat,” the two-way superstar created one of the most thunderous moments of the proceedings.
Addressing the crowd in English, Ohtani said, “This is so special, I’m so honored to be here. Congratulations, Los Angeles. Thank you, guys.”

The rally ended with an explosion of white and blue confetti on the field, while Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” blared from the speakers.
That may have been the end of Friday’s party, but with a star-studded lineup locked in for the foreseeable future, the baseball world may just have to get used to Hollywood-style World Series celebrations.