KEEP THIS RIDE GOING

Defending champions vow to three-peat as they join fans for World Series celebration

- BY JACK HARRIS

ALLEN J. SCHABEN Los Angeles Times DODGERS PLAYERS recognize fans from atop double-decker buses during the downtown parade for the team's second consecutive World Series championship.

The celebration had hardly begun, when Shohei Ohtani first voiced the theme of the day.

"I'm already thinking about the third time," he said in Japanese, standing atop a double-decker bus in downtown Los Angeles with thousands of blue-clad, flag-waving, championship-celebrating Dodgers fans lining the streets around him for the team's 2025 World Series parade.

Turns out, he wasn't alone.

Two days removed from a dramatic Game 7 victory that made the Dodgers baseball's first repeat champion in 25 years, the team rolled through the streets of downtown and into a sold-out rally at Dodger Stadium on Monday already thinking about what lies ahead in 2026.

With three titles in the last six seasons, their modern-day dynasty might now be cemented.

But their goal of adding to this "golden era of Dodger baseball," as top executive Andrew Friedman has repeatedly called it, is far from over.

"All I have to say to you," owner and chairman Mark Walter told the 52,703 fans at the team's stadium rally, "is we'll be back next year."

CLOCKWISE, from above: Manager Dave Roberts at a packed Dodger Stadium rally; Ramon Ontiveros, left, and Michelle Ruiz of Redlands join fans downtown; Lissette Ontiveros with a Shohei Ohtani cutout.

"I have a crazy idea for you," Friedman echoed. "How about we do it again?"

When manager Dave Roberts took the mic, he tripled down on that objective: "What's better than two? Three! Three-peat! Three-peat! Let's go."