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 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 was honored by President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
This time the team will be welcomed by President Trump — which, given past comments some with the team have made, raised questions in the wake of Tuesday’s announcement.
Read more: Dodgers manager Dave Roberts would like a White House invitation to decline
Roberts said he would be part of the visit, despite comments he made to The Times in 2019 indicating he might not go to the White House if Trump — who was critical of Roberts’ managing on Twitter during the 2018 World Series — was president.
“I respect the position,” Roberts said Tuesday. “It’s the highest office in our country certainly, in the world. So I’m looking forward to it.”
Mookie Betts, meanwhile, said he was undecided if he would go, and that he needed to talk it over with his family first.
After winning the World Series with the Boston Red Sox in 2018, Betts skipped the team’s trip to the White House the following year during Trump’s first term.
In addition to their White House visit on April 7, Dodgers team members also will visit Capitol Hill on April 8.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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