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City Section reaches agreement to play baseball finals at Dodger Stadium

Players from Birmingham celebrate in the 2017 City championship game at Dodger Stadium.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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The City Section baseball championship game is returning to Dodger Stadium.

Every season since 1969, the championship game was played at Dodger Stadium, a streak that reached 51 consecutive years until COVID-19 issues forced the 2020 season to be canceled. In 2021, COVID-19 issues again kept the City Section from playing their championship game at Dodger Stadium.

This season, Dodger Stadium is available for use on May 28. The Dodgers only charge the City Section for labor costs and offered use of the facility for $27,543.20, the same as 2019 and a reduction from an original offer of $37,000.

On Thursday morning, the City Section Executive Committee approved the deal during an emergency meeting, clearing the way for the Open Division and Division I finals to be played at Dodger Stadium.

It will be welcomed by students of the Los Angeles Unified School District and local charter schools, who have endured two years of masks, canceled grad nights and canceled games as a result of the pandemic.

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Playing at Dodger Stadium is a perk that most every high school baseball player in the City Section has looked forward to for decades. Former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley made it clear the stadium would be made available as part of its commitment to the Los Angeles community.

“We’ve got to keep it going another 30 years,” O’Malley said in 1998.

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The Division II and III finals will be played at Birmingham on May 27. The Open Division semifinals will be played at USC on Tuesday or Wednesday during finals week.

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