LOS ANGELES — Part of winning the World Series, let alone two in a row, is that you get two days’ worth of pregame ceremonies to open the season. It’s not exactly the routine baseball players are used to, but this might be a nearly literal case of what Dodgers manager Dave Roberts likes to call champagne problems.
Opening day ceremonies included introducing the entire team, with the players entering on a blue carpet from center field. Two members of the starting lineup — Freddie Freeman and Miguel Rojas — were conspicuously absent when their names were called, but they were part of a planned skit with actor Will Ferrell.
A overly long video played on the scoreboards at Dodger Stadium with Ferrell taking a stadium tour, with the lone saving grace team historian Mark Langill doing yeomen’s work as a tour guide in the piece. The video ends with Ferrell finding the championship trophies from 2024 and 2025, with Freeman and Rojas finding him.
After the video, Ferrell drove a blue convertible onto the field at Dodger Stadium, with Freeman and Rojas each holding a trophy to complete the production.
In all, the festivities, which included raising the championship banner and 2025 World Series emblem at the stadium, took 45 minutes before starting on time at 5:30 p.m. PT. The Dodgers will have another ceremony on Friday to deliver all the championship rings. That will start at 6:20 p.m., 50 minutes before first pitch.
“Hopefully the clubhouse is staying present, and just trying to win a game that night. It’s out there, but you’ve kind of got to try and block it out and focus on playing,” manager Dave Roberts said before Thursday’s game. “But understandably so, we put ourselves in a good spot that people want to talk about it, and that’s a good thing.”
Much earlier on Thursday, the Dodgers unveiled a hype video introducing the season, narrated by Jason Bateman.
“What’s wrong with being the bad guy?” Bateman asked. “If being the best makes you bad, then so be it.”
Roberts was asked about the video before the game.
“The organization did that? Alright, well they said that we’re the bad guys. That’s self-proclaimed, so I guess I’m going to embrace it,” he said with a smile. “I don’t know. I guess people like a villain.”
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