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Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani looks on after striking out during the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Monday, July 20, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo\/Chris Szagola)<\/p>\n
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WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump is welcoming Shohei Ohtani and the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers to the White House on Thursday with a Rose Garden event celebrating their second title in as many years.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers edged the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 last October to become the first repeat champions in a quarter century. Trump feted the team in the White House East Room in April 2025 to mark their 2024 World Series championship<\/p>\n
Trump looked forward to meeting Ohtani, the team\u2019s celebrated hitter and pitcher.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll meet a man who\u2019s just about the best pitcher in baseball and just about the best hitter in baseball,\u201d Trump said about Ohtani during an event at the Environmental Protection Agency. \u201cSo we\u2019re going to meet him and all of the people of the Dodgers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sports teams visiting Trump at the White House have sometimes been a source of controversy dating to his first term. That includes 2018, when the president rescinded an invitation to the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles after many players suggested they might skip such a trip.<\/p>\n
This time, Dodgers star right fielder Mookie Betts isn\u2019t coming, saying he prefers to spend what is a scheduled day off for the team with his family \u2014 even though he did come for the 2025 visit. The team\u2019s manager, Dave Roberts, suggested that the trip is more about winning than politics.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy company line, my personal line, is, I hope that we get this invitation every year because that\u2019s the goal, to win a championship, to get this invitation to the White House,\u201d Roberts said Friday.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers originally considered coming to the White House this past April during a series with the Washington Nationals, but a crowded early season schedule didn\u2019t permit that. Instead, they\u2019re in the nation\u2019s capital during the off-day between a just-completed series against the Philadelphia Phillies and Friday\u2019s opener against the New York Mets in Queens.<\/p>\n
Championship baseball teams have been coming to the White House since 1869, when President Ulysses S. Grant hosted the Cincinnati Red Stockings. They were the first fully professional team to visit the White House and went undefeated that season, though the World Series wasn\u2019t established in its modern form until 1903.<\/p>\n
Since the Dodgers\u2019 visit last year, Trump has revamped the Rose Garden and added a patio area reminiscent of his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.<\/p>\n
Trump, a baseball fan and New York native, has for years been closely associated with the New York Yankees, whose late, longtime owner George Steinbrenner was a close friend. But the president singled out the New York Mets at a rally in Georgia on Wednesday, when he praised the ownership of the local Atlanta Braves and slammed the Mets for their sky-high payroll and losing record.<\/p>\n
Trump was joined on stage during that event by former Braves manager Brian Snitker, and Mike Plant, president and CEO of the Braves Development Company.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like baseball,\u201d Trump said before adding, \u201cYou know, the Mets have the highest salary in baseball, and they lose all the time. And I\u2019m like, maybe we can steal this guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are teams like that, where they never go down,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThen you have other teams \u2014 \u2018We\u2019re rebuilding.\u2019 They\u2019ve been rebuilding for years. I don\u2019t want to mention teams \u2019cause I know all the owners. They\u2019re all friends of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n
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