FULL EVENT: President Trump Celebrates the 2025 World Series Champion Dodgers - 07/23/26

Well, thank you very much, everybody. It's an honor to be here. And welcome to — this is really the new Rose Garden, how beautiful it is, with the white stone that matches the White House. This used to be grass, and it was always wet. You know, the White House is built on a wetland. And when you're built on a wetland, the grass is wet all the time. If it didn't rain for five days, it was very wet. And we had a lot of very upset women. They'd stand in there with the high heels, and they'd just go down like quicksand. And that took place for about 150 years, and I decided to do something about it. And this has become an incredible place for dining and for news conferences and for events like this. And this is a very special event because it's the Dodgers, and they're the world champions. And, Mark, this is the first time we've ever used the new Rose Garden. You see the — right up there, the Rose Garden. They put that up. Looks very nice. This is not — do you think Biden would do that? I don't think so. I don't think Biden would do it. And we created the Presidential Walk of Fame. That wall, for 150 years, had absolutely nothing on it. And it always used to amaze me. I said, what are we going to put on that wall? Now, I could put some of the great Dodgers on the wall, but I figured maybe it's more appropriate that we put the Presidents. So it's been quite something. And we've have — we did From Washington to Trump, and people love it. And they read — they study the plaques. And, generally speaking, I was very nice to the people up there. A couple of them probably not as nice as I could have been. But I just want to say that we're delighted to host the 2025 World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Amazing. And for the first time in the proud history of this famous franchise, you are repeat champions. I didn't know that. That's the first time, huh? Well, great ownership, great management. And so I'm thrilled to say, welcome back to the White House. And maybe I'll see you again next year, I hope. But it's a really — it's truly a great — when you talk about a brand, it's one of the great brands anywhere in the world, no matter where you go. The Dodgers is one of the great brands, and certainly it's been enhanced as long as these two gentlemen were up here and were with us. I want to thank Dodgers owner and my friend, Chairman Mark Walter, for being here. Thank you, Mark. Along with President Stan Kasten and Manager Dave Roberts. That's a hell of a manager. What a manager. And also, here we have some of our — they're fans. They're big celebrities for the most part themselves, but they're fans. Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins. And by the way, prices are going down very substantially. Thank you, Brooke. We got them down. We inherited the highest prices in history, and we got them — we're getting them down very quickly. Thank you, Brooke. Secretary of Health and Human Services. He wasn't supposed to be here, but he's a big Dodger fan. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Thank you, Bobby. And his incredible wife. Thank you. Are you a giant — are you a big fan of the Dodgers? I didn't know that. Secretary of Homeland Security, Mark Wayne Mullen. Mark Wayne. Thank you. Look at the hat. Don't put that hat on in Oklahoma, please, Mark. They won't be too happy. Acting Director of the National Intelligence, Bill Pulte. Bill, thank you. Good job you're doing. U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, Michelle Steele. Thank you very much. Thank you. And many representatives and some of our wonderful senators and congressmen. I want to thank you all for being here. Also, Vince Fong and Young Kim. Thank you very much. Thank you both very much. A lot of politicians. I'm not going to introduce the politicians. We'll be here all day. The 2025 Dodger season was one for the record books in 150 years of Major League Baseball. No player has ever earned more than one unanimous league MVP, except for an international legend named Shohei Ohtani. Shohei Ohtani. That's him. He's amazing. He's amazing. Everybody loves him. Last year, Shohei did what was previously unthinkable. Nobody thought it was possible. He collected his third straight unanimous league MVP with a franchise record, 55 home runs. And if you would have told me you can be the best pitcher and the best hitter at the same time. You know, Babe Ruth was pretty close to that. They drafted Babe Ruth. He was 19 years old. I know something about baseball. Babe was 19 years old. They consider it the worst trade in the history of sports. I would say Babe will always take that. He was 19, and they got a 36-year-old third baseman and $100,000. So I would rate that pretty bad. They drafted him as a pitcher, but he did something very unusual. He led the league in home runs as a pitcher. That one you have to do. He's pretty close to doing it, I think. I think you're pretty close to doing it. But Babe did something that nobody. And so they made that trade, and that goes down as the worst trade in the history of baseball. But the Babe was the Babe, right? You know the second-worst trade in history, just out of curiosity? Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the entire Los Angeles Lakers team. Okay? They traded the whole team to Milwaukee, and they won plenty of championships with Kareem. But this group started their title defense with nine pitchers injured before the first fastball was ever thrown. They played their opening game in Tokyo and traveled more than 2,000 miles. That's more than any team has ever traveled. In fact, from the first pitch to the final out, they endured and triumphed through the longest season of any team in the history of Major League Baseball. 229 days. I didn't know that. Did you know that? That's a pretty crazy fact. I mean, it's not the kind of fact you think about. What, is it going to be a half a day longer or something? I don't know. That's a different kind of a fact, Mark, than I ever heard of, but that's what they give me to read. So what can I tell you? 220, the longest season ever. I don't know what the hell that means. In the postseason, the Dodgers exploded with nine wins in their first 10 games, unbeatable. In the National League Championship Series against the Brewers, the brilliant Dodgers pitching rotation of Blake Snell, Tyler Glassnow, Shohei, and, of course, Yoshi Yamamoto, combined for a record-setting ERA of just .63. In other words, if you get one run, you're in good shape. That's amazing pitching. And, by the way, I just asked Dave, I said, how are you doing this year? You know, I've been a little busy with Iran and some other things, so if I know too much, you wouldn't be happy. I wouldn't be doing a good job if I know too much. But I said, how are you doing? He said, we have the best record in baseball. Right? So far, right? Might see you back next year, I hope. So, not starting rotation. And no starting rotation has ever done anything better or anything even comparable to the championship series and the history of the sport with some great pitchers, some of the greatest pitchers ever. In game two of the same series, superstar Max Muncy hit his 14th postseason home run. Where's Max? They're all winners. His 14th postseason home. That's a lot of home runs in the postseason. Breaking the all-time Dodger record. Who has — who's second? Who did you break there, Max? Who was second? Pretty good player, right? I'm not sure. I'll let you know later. I'll let you know. He's not done yet. I'll figure it out. He's got a — yeah, he's got a long way to go, too. Then the decisive game for Shohei. Pitched a six-inning shutout. Struck out 10 batters. And on the other side of the plate, hit an unbelievable three home runs. In fact, I was watching the game, and before the announcers said it, they said, that might be the greatest game ever played. The guy shut — pitched six unbelievable innings and got three home runs. Won the game. His Herculean effort sealed the National League pennant and lifted the Dodgers to the World Series championship. Think of it. You have a man on the team who pitched perfectly and hit three home runs — I think in a single. And I said to myself, that's the greatest game ever played by one person because you did the pitching and the hitting. And he's not finished yet also, right? He's not finished. He's got a lot of them left. That World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays proved to be among the most thrilling championships in the history of the sport. I watched it because I was having a little — a little bet with the Prime Minister of Canada. I had a little bet. I was not feeling so good for a little while. It wasn't looking so good. Neither were you. After splitting the first two games, game went — game three went to extra innings, forcing this pitching rotation to grind through some incredibly tough spots. In the top of the 12th — it went a long time — legend Clayton Kershaw. Where's Clayton? I want to see him. He's a winner. You talk about a winner. Fantastic. Look at that guy. I watched him beat a lot of our teams that were supposed to do well. They didn't do too well against him. And he's still pitching well, I'll bet, right? Well, he's spending time with the family now, sir. Well, yeah. But it is called, ultimately, talent, right? Yes. Would you say talent is the whole ballgame? You could pitch right now. If they needed you, you'd be out there, right? No? And he's smart. Anyway, Clayton took the mound for his last time in Dodger Blue. And with the final pitch of his epic career — and it was an epic career — he got this team out of a bases-loaded jam. That was really something. They picked the right person. The rest of the bullpen did not allow a single run, including the very last addition to the roster, reliever Will Kline. Where's Will Kline, Clayton? Where is Will Kline? Hi, Will. He was a little nervous. That's great. Thank you, Will. He pitched four scoreless innings — that's right — and sent the game to the record-tying 18th inning at almost 3 a.m. on the East Coast. And I actually stayed up. I was watching it. I was watching that game. I said, will this game ever end? It was a long one, but it was amazing, actually. I thought it was a game that you were going to lose about four or five times, and you ended up winning. Luck is okay, too, right? Luck is okay. Yeah, it's okay. Well, but with talent, you get a lot of luck. In the bottom of the 18th, with a chance to end the game, who else would you want at the plate other than Freddie Freeman? I love Freddie Freeman. I spoke — you know, I was with the Atlanta Braves yesterday. I said, great going losing Freddie. That's true. I was in Atlanta. I made a speech. And your general manager and president of the team — two great people, by the way, and they do love you. I wouldn't say they're thrilled. But I talked about — I said, what about Freddie? Could you have kept him? And I don't know the answer to that, but all I know is you've been just as good here as you have been. Usually, it doesn't work out that way, you know? You go, and it's not quite the same. We could name a lot of players. You got — I think you may be even better. Is he doing pretty well? Shohei, is he doing a pretty good job? Right, Freddie? He's pretty good. Freddie's pretty good. Well, they are not happy, let me just tell you that. They were very nice people, but they weren't thrilled at my bringing your name up. On a 3-2 count, Freddie squared off with a fastball over the middle, blasted it 406 feet to center field, raised his arms high, and walked off a World Series game for the second year in a row. That was the second year. That was something. Then, World Series MVP, Yoshi Yamamoto — oh, boy, did he pitch well — pitched an incredible game six, sending the Dodgers to an unforgettable Game 7. Where's Yoshi? Very smart. That's great. You are something. You're both something. But it's an unforgettable — Game 7 was about to take place. Multiple times, this team was one play away from losing it all, and I knew that. I mean, you had, like, four incidents that you came out on the — including the catcher. Where's the catcher? He's hurt. His foot went back on that plate. You think I'm playing games. This isn't a — most of them would have tried to bluff it, but he didn't want to do that. He went back. By about a quarter of a second, he got there. If he didn't go back, most players wouldn't do that. A lot of reasons. A lot of reasons. You guys are very lucky to have him here, right? But he did a great job doing that. That play was amazing. And you had many amazing plays in that game. In the last two and the last three games. He was down 4-3 in the top of the ninth inning. Miguel Rojas slugged his first home run in over 40 days to tie it up. I expected he was going to do that. You know, I heard he's a winner. I heard he's a winner. Where is Miguel? Where are you? He's a winner. So, did you expect that to happen? Absolutely. Just saying. He thought he was going to — that was great. That was amazing, actually. In the bottom of the same inning, he threw out a blue jay. Oh, that's right. You did that great throw, too. Boy, that was a hell of a — you giving him a little increase, please? That's his department. All right. Oh, that was pretty good. That was a rather good game for you, wasn't it, huh? Was he the MVP of that game? Or close? Maybe not. No, I think it was Yamamoto. I don't know. Yeah, that's right. You had a lot of them. But they were two incredible players. Could you still — would you give it to him? Huh? Got to go with them. They got to go. Great job. But sprinting home by a fraction of a second — that was the one, I guess, I'm talking about, with the catcher with the foot, right? It was unbelievable. His foot was off the plate. But instead of just sort of bluffing it, like I would do in baseball — I'd bluff it, you know, like pretending it was on — he went, wah. And then he went back and touched the plate. And if he didn't, that was the end of that game, right? Unbelievable. Congratulate him. Then Andy Paez. I wanted to get that one right. You got it right. I wanted to get that one right. I had to get that right because the Y is an H. And it was easy once they told me that. I can't get you wrong. I'd be in big trouble. But Andy came off the bench for one single play in the outfield. The Blue Jays drove a deep fly ball over his head. So he turned and he sprinted over 120 feet, colliding with his teammate and making one of the most memorable catches in the history of the World Series. It was crazy, that catch. That was unbelievable. And he was put in for defensive purposes. Was that a good move? Do you think you have a good manager? Maybe you did that for defense because that was a hell of a catch. And then two extra innings later, the Dodgers — I mean, this was truly a great World Series, right? I mean, yeah, I mean, I watched — I was watching it and I had a reason, but I was watching it and I thought it was incredible, actually. Two extra innings later, the Dodgers scored the go-ahead run and Yoshi closed out the game on zero days rest, becoming the first pitcher in over two decades to win three games in a single World Series. And he hit real well, too. This team proudly brought home the championship for the USA. And if they managed to repeat this year, they would become the first team to win three in a row since the days of the legendary baseball dynasty, the 1990 New York Yankees. And I was there for a lot of those games with George Steinbrenner. He was a friend of mine, and he was a guy — he liked winning. He would do anything to win. He would do anything to win, I tell you. But you're doing the same thing. It's amazing, Mark. Once again, congratulations to everyone on this historic trip, this great journey that you're on. And, you know, I know so many people in baseball. I know the owners. They work so hard. They spend so much money on talent and everything else. And I see you here again, and probably again and again and again. And it's a real talent between you and Dave and the people that do all the selecting and these unbelievable athletes behind me. I have great respect, really great respect. So, Mark, if you'd say a few words, and then Dave. And I want to thank everybody for being here. This is really a special team. It's special winners. They're champions and just unbelievable. And I wouldn't be surprised to see them back again. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. President. It's truly an honor for us to be back at the White House again. We are so proud of our 2025 championship team and our back-to-back titles. This is such an exceptional group of people. Oh, I think — sorry about that. Okay. Okay. Yeah. It's back-to-back titles, and we're once again here to celebrate with this great tradition of celebrating a championship with the President of the United States. Thank you very much. We're grateful to be here following another incredible season with what many believe was the greatest World Series ever played. Winning back-to-back championships is an extraordinary accomplishment, and it reflects the talent, determination, and character of everyone in the organization. Thank you for welcoming us today, Mr. President. We're proud of that team and what it has achieved, and we hope to be back here again next year. Thank you. Thank you, Mark. Thank you, Mr. President. And I had a script, but I just want to say that we're very grateful to be here, and you said the term winners many times. And this group of men and some men that aren't here that were a part of the 2025 World Series championship were big parts of this, the support staff, the coaches, front office, ownership, men of character, people of character. And we did something that hasn't been done in over 30 years, going back-to-back World Series champions. And we are going for a three-peat. We're in the middle of this season right now, the grind, so thank you. The only thing I'll have to say is I hope when you watch our guys play, you can be proud and say these guys do things the right way. Their names are everywhere on social media, in the news, but when it comes to winning 11 games in October or 13 last year, these guys all come together unselfishly, and you never know what moment is gonna present itself, but we have all these guys here that are ready when called upon. So we're very fortunate to have these guys, and hopefully we got more Dodger fans. So thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you. Wow, oh, that looks good. We'd like to present this to you as a thank you. Oh, wow, oh, you have to be kidding, huh? Wow. Do I have to report this? I wanna report this. That's beautiful, thank you very much. It's got your name on it, so it's only worth it to you. That's really good. Thank you very much. And? You know what, I'll put it right here. And a World Series jersey. Thank you very much. 47. Thank you. I just wanna say, something I don't do often, but so right behind me is the Oval Office, and as I said, this is the first time we've ever done this here in the Rose Garden, because now it's equipped to do it. And I hope you like those cushions, because they are four inches, as opposed to one inch. It's supposed to be one inch, like this, like a little pad. And I said, get me the four-inch ones. They don't make them. Now they're gonna make them after they see this on television. They'll probably, they'll make a fortune with them. But they are pretty cool. But I just wanna say that we're steps away from the most powerful office in the world, the Oval Office, where everything begins and ends and begins. It's all, there's nothing like it. Most important people in the world go in there. We had King Charles here three weeks ago. We have President Xi coming in another three weeks. He's gonna be coming here in September. But people walk into the Oval Office, and no matter who they are, they just sort of feel sort of different. And it's a great place to negotiate, because everyone's all discombobulated when they walk in, and this is a great time for me to negotiate with them. So we do that as often as possible. But I did it with the Dodgers the last time, and I'm gonna do it with the Dodgers this time, because we have a special, beautiful coin that everybody loves and everybody wants. And if the Dodgers would like, we're gonna walk, and this time it's much closer, because last time we had to walk all the way from the other side of the building. There's the ballroom and the military facility. Here's the helipad we're building. We're building a beautiful helipad after many years, the helicopters are landing on the grass, and the new helicopters didn't do well on grass. So we're putting up a beautiful helipad and have a lot of things going. We're bringing this building to a level that it was not at even when it was first built in 1792, if you can believe it. So we're doing little things. As a real estate person, I love doing it. To me, it's an honor. It's a great honor to do it. But so what we're gonna do is we're gonna take this unbelievable team to the Oval Office, and we're gonna present them with some great things. And I just wanna thank everybody very much. This is a special moment, and I think especially because it's the Dodgers and it's Dave and Mark and people that are unbelievable, in their own right, unbelievable talents and leaders. Thank you very much, and a job well done. Thank you. Let's go.