Dodgers will visit President Trump and the White House to celebrate World Series title

The Dodgers will visit the White House during their trip to Washington next month to face the Nationals, the team announced Tuesday, continuing a tradition for championship teams of the United States’ major sports leagues.

“It’s certainly a huge honor to get the invitation to the White House,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Allows us to celebrate our 2024 championship.”

The visit, scheduled for April 7, will mark the Dodgers’ second trip to the White House in the last five years. In 2021, the team’s 2020 World Series title was celebrated by President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

This time, the Dodgers will be welcomed by President Trump — which, given past comments some team members have made, raised questions in the wake of Tuesday’s announcement about whether anyone might decline to take part in the event.

Roberts said he would participate, despite comments he made to The Times in 2019 indicating he might not go to the White House if Trump — who was notoriously critical of Roberts’ managing on Twitter during the 2018 World Series — was president.

“I respect the position,” Roberts said Tuesday, confirming his attendance for next month’s trip. “It’s the highest office in our country certainly, in the world. So I’m looking forward to it.”

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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts would like a White House invitation to decline

Dave Roberts learned he had drawn the ire of the president of the United States in the most public of settings, sitting at a postgame news conference, broadcast to millions, as he sifted through the wreckage of Game 4 of the 2018 World Series.

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Kiké Hernández also said he was planning to go, something he said in 2018 he was unsure he would have done had the Dodgers won the World Series the previous year. Hernández, who was not with the Dodgers for their 2021 White House visit after signing with the Boston Red Sox the previous offseason, noted this year might be his last chance to experience a White House trip.

Mookie Betts, on the other hand, said he was undecided if he would make this year’s White House visit, and that he needed to talk it over with his family first.

After winning his first World Series title with the Red Sox in 2018, Betts skipped their trip to the White House the following year during Trump’s first term, along with Boston manager Alex Cora and All-Star teammate pitcher David Price. Betts did take part in the Dodgers’ visit in 2021 with President Biden.

During Trump’s first term, several sports teams, including the Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia Eagles, did not make White House visits amid a threat of boycotts from their players.

Leading up to Tuesday’s announcement, however, Roberts said there “wasn’t a formal conversation that we had as a ballclub” about whether the Dodgers would make a White House visit this year.

The team’s statement noted it was “keeping with long-standing baseball tradition” by visiting the White House. Baseball teams have made White House visits as far back as the 19th century, and championship winners in all sports began receiving regular invitations during Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s.

Roberts was asked Tuesday about a recent baseball-related controversy involving the Trump administration. Last week, the Department of Defense removed — before later republishing — an article from its website detailing Jackie Robinson’s history of military service in what appeared to be part of the administration’s stance against diversity, equality and inclusion initiatives.

Roberts said he was “happy that the page went back up” but didn’t offer any further opinions.

“I have my strong opinions on DEI and all that stuff,” he said, “but that’s another scrum.”

In addition to their White House visit on April 7, Dodgers team members also will visit Capitol Hill on April 8.