Remarks: Donald Trump Congratulates the 2026 World Series Champion Dodgers - July 23, 2026

Congratulations.

Thank you.

That was a great -- great year and a great series. It was a hell of a series, I tell you. That was really great, and you guys are looking so good. You pulled it out, great going. Great. Nice to be with you. Well, thank you very much, everybody. It's an honor to be here and welcome to -- this is really the new Rose Garden, how beautiful it is with the white stone that matches the White House.

This used to be grass and it was always wet. You know, the White House is built on a wetland. And when you built on a wetland, the grass is wet all the time. If it didn't rain for five days, it was very wet and we had a lot of very upset women. They would stand in there with the high heels, and they'd just go down like quicksand.

And that took place for about 150 years, and I decided to do something about it, and this has become an incredible place for dining and for news conferences and for events like this. And this is a very special event because it's the Dodgers, and they're the world champions. And, uh - And Mark, this is the -- this is the first time we've ever used the new Rose Garden.

You see the -- right up there, the Rose Garden. I put that up, looks very nice. This is not -- do you think Biden would do that? I don't think so. I don't think Biden would do it. And we created the Presidential Walk of Fame. That wall, for 150 years, had absolutely nothing on it and it always used to amaze me. I said, what are we going to put on that wall?

Now, I could put some of the great Dodgers on the wall, but I figured maybe it's more appropriate that we put the presidents. So it's been quite something and we have -- we did from Washington to Trump and people love it, and they read -- they study the plaques. And generally speaking, I was very nice to the people up there.

A couple of them, probably not as nice as I could have been, but I just want to say that we're delighted to host the 2025 World Series Champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Amazing. And for the first time in the proud history of this famous franchise, you are repeat champions. I didn't know that. That's the first time, huh?

Well, great ownership, great management and so I'm thrilled to say, welcome back to the White House, and maybe I'll see you again next year, I hope. But it's a really -- it's truly a great -- when you talk about a brand, it's one of the great brands anywhere in the world. No matter where you go, the Dodgers is one of the great brands, and certainly it's been enhanced, as long as these two gentlemen were up here and were with us. I want to thank Dodgers owner and my friend, chairman Mark Walter for being here.

Thank you, Mark. Great job. Along with President Stan Kasten and manager, Dave Roberts. That's a hell of a manager. What a manager. And also here, we have some of our-- they're fans. They're big celebrities for the most part themselves, but they're fans, Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins. And by the way, prices are going down very substantially.

Thank you, Brooke. We got them down. We inherited the highest prices in history and we got them -- we're getting them down very quickly. Thank you, Brooke. Secretary of Health and Human Services, he wasn't supposed to be here, but he's a big Dodger fan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Thank you, Bobby. And his incredible wife.

Thank you. Are you a giant -- are you a big fan of the Dodgers? I didn't know that. Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin. Markwayne, thank you. Look at the hat. Don't put that hat on in Oklahoma, please, Mark. They won't be too happy. Acting Director of the National Intelligence, Bill Pulte. Bill, thank you.

Good job you're doing. US Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, Michelle Steel. Thank you very much. Thank you. And many representatives and some of our wonderful Senators and Congressmen. I want to thank you all for being here. Also, Vince Fong and Young Kim. Thank you very much. Thank you both very much.

A lot of politicians. I'm not going to introduce the politicians, we'll be here all day. The 2025 Dodger season was one for the record books. In 150 years of Major League Baseball no player has ever earned more than one unanimous league MVP, except for an international legend named Shohei Ohtani. Shohei Ohtani.

That's him.

Oh, he's amazing. He's amazing. Everybody loves him. Last year, Shohei did what was previously unthinkable. Nobody thought it was possible. He collected his third straight unanimous league MVP with a franchise record, 55 home runs. And if you would have told me you can be the best pitcher in the best hitter at the same time, you know, Babe Ruth was pretty close to that.

They drafted Babe Ruth, he was 19 years old. I know something about baseball. Babe was 19 years old and considered the worst trade in the history of sports. I would say Babe will always take that he was 19, and they got a 36 year old third baseman and $100,000. So I would rate that pretty bad. They drafted him as a pitcher, but he did something very unusual.

He led the league in home runs as a pitcher. That one, you have to do, and he's pretty close to doing it, I think. I think you're pretty close to doing it. But Babe did something that nobody -- and so they made that trade and that goes down as the worst trade in the history of baseball and, uh, but the Babe was the Babe, right?

You know, the second worst trade in history, just out of curiosity, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the entire Los Angeles Lakers team, OK? They traded the whole team to Milwaukee and they won plenty of championships with Kareem. But this group started their title defense with nine pitchers injured before the first fastball was ever thrown.

They played their opening game in Tokyo and traveled more than 2,000 miles. That's more than any team has ever traveled. In fact, from the first pitch to the final out, they endured and triumphed through the longest season of any team in the history of Major League Baseball, 229 days. I didn't know that.

Did you know that? That's a pretty crazy fact. That's not the kind of fact you think about, what, is it going to be a half a day longer or something? I don't know. That's a different kind of a fact, Mark, than I ever heard of but that's what they give me to read, so what can I tell you? 220, the longest season ever.

I don't know what the hell that means. In the postseason, the Dodgers exploded with nine wins in their first ten games, unbeatable. In the National League Championship Series against the Brewers, the brilliant Dodgers pitching rotation of Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei and of course, Yoshi Yamamoto combined for a record setting ERA of just 0.63. In other words, if you get one run, you're in good shape.

That's amazing pitching. And, by the way, I just asked Dave, I said, how are you doing this? You know, I've been a little busy with Iran and some other things, so if I know too much, you wouldn't be happy, I wouldn't be doing a good job if I know too much but I said, how are you doing? He said, we have the best record in baseball, right, so far, right?

Yes, sir.

That's good. Might see you back next year, I hope. So not starting rotation and think -- no starting rotation has ever done anything better or anything even comparable to the Championship series in the history of the sport with some great pitches, some of the greatest pitchers ever. In game two of the same series, superstar Max Muncy hit his 14th postseason home run.

Where's Max?

Right there.

Come here, Max. Guy's a winner. They're all winners. His 14th postseason home -- that's a lot of home runs in the postseason, breaking the all-time Dodger record. Who has -- who's second? Who did you break there, Max? Who was second? Pretty good player, right?

I'm not sure.

I'll let you know later. I'll let you --

He's not done yet.

I'll figure it out. He's got to -- yeah, he's got a long way to go too. Then the decisive game four, Shohei pitched a six inning shutout, struck out 10 batters, and on the other side of the plate, hit an unbelievable three home runs. In fact, I was watching the game, and before the announcer said it, I said, that might be the greatest game ever played.

The guy pitched six unbelievable innings and got three home runs, won the game. His Herculean effort sealed the National League pennant and lifted the Dodgers to the World Series championship. Think of it, you have a man on the team who pitched perfectly and hit three home runs, I think in a single, and I said to myself, that's the greatest game ever played by one person, because you did the pitching and the hitting.

And he's not finished yet also, right? He's not finished; he's got a lot of them left. That World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays proved to be among the most thrilling championships in the history of the sport. I watched it because I was having a little -- a little bet with the prime minister of Canada.

I had a little bet; I was not feeling so good for a little while. It wasn't looking so good, neither were you. After splitting the first two games, game three went to extra innings, forcing this pitching rotation to grind through some incredibly tough spots in the top of the 12th, it went a long time, legend, Clayton Kershaw -- where's Clayton?

I want to see him. He's a winner. You talk about a winner, fantastic. Look at that guy. I watched him beat a lot of our teams that were supposed to do well. They didn't do too well against him, and he's still pitching well I'll bet, right?

Well, he's spending time with the family now, sir.

Well, yeah, but it is called ultimately talent right, would you say? Talent is the whole ball game? You could pitch right now -- if they needed you, you'd be out there, right? No? [Laughter] And he's smart. Anyway, Clayton took the mound for his last time in Dodger Blue and with the final pitch of his epic career, and it was an epic career, he got this team out of a bases loaded jam that was really something; they picked the right person.

The rest of the bullpen did not allow a single run, including the very last addition to the roster, reliever Will Klein. Where's Will Klein, Clayton? Where is Will Klein? Hi Will. He's a big guy, too. Congratulations. Were you nervous?

A little bit.

He was a little nervous. That's great. Thank you, Will. He pitched four scoreless innings, that's right, and sent the game to the record-tying 18th inning at almost 3 a.m. on the East Coast. And I actually stayed up; I was watching it. I was watching that game. I said will this game ever end? It was a long one, but it was amazing, actually.

I thought it was a game that you were going to lose about four or five times and you ended up winning. Luck is OK too, right?

Luck is OK.

Yeah, it's OK. Well, but with talent, you get a lot of luck. In the bottom of the 18th with a chance to end the game, who else would you want at the plate other than Freddie Freeman? I love Freddie Freeman. Where's Freddie? I spoke -- you know, I was with the Atlanta Braves yesterday. I said, great going, losing Freddie. [Laughter] It's true.

I was in Atlanta, I made a speech and your general manager and president of the team, two great people, by the way, and they do love you. I wouldn't say they're thrilled, but I talked about it. I said, what about Freddie? Could you have kept him? And I don't know the answer to that, but all I know is you've been just as good here as you have been.

Usually, it doesn't work out that way, you know? You go and it's not quite the same. We could name a lot of players. You've got -- I think you may be even better. Is he doing pretty well, Shohei? Is he doing a pretty good job? Right, Freddie? It's pretty good -- Freddie's pretty good. Well, they are not happy, let me just tell you that.

They were very nice people, but they weren't thrilled at my bringing your name up. On a three two count, Freddie squared off with a fastball over the middle, blasted it 406 feet to center field, raised his arms high and walked off a World Series game for the second year in a row. That was the second year.

That was something. Then World Series MVP Yoshi Yamamoto -- boy did he pitch well -- pitched an incredible game six, sending the Dodgers to an unforgettable game seven. Where's Yoshi?

So, who is a better pitcher, tell me? [Laughter] Very smart. You are something. That's great. You are something, you're both something. But it's an unforgettable -- game seven was about to take place. Multiple times his team was one play away from losing it all, and I knew that. I mean, you had, like, four incidents that you came out on the right, including the catcher.

Where's the catcher?

He's hurt; he's home.

His foot went back on that plate. You think I'm playing games. This isn't in -- most of them would have tried to bluff it, but he didn't want to do that. He went back by about a quarter of a second, he got there; if he didn't go back.

Most players wouldn't do that. A lot of reasons, a lot of reasons. You guys are very lucky. We're lucky to have them here, right? But he did a great job doing that. That play was amazing and you had many amazing plays in that game, and the last two and last three games. Down 4 to 3 in the top of the ninth inning, Miguel Rojas slugged his first home run in over 40 days to tie it up. I expected he was going to do that.

You know why? I heard he's a winner. I heard he's a winner. Where is Miguel? Where are you?

He's a winner.

So, did you expect that to happen? Absolutely. Just say yes, sir. [Laughter] You thought he was going to -- that was great. That was amazing, actually. In the bottom of the same inning, he threw out a Blue Jay -- oh, that's right, you did that great throw, too. Boy, that was a hell of a -- you giving him a little increase, please?

That's his department.

All right. Hey, that was pretty good. That was a rather good game for you, wasn't it, huh? Was he the MVP of that game or close? Maybe not.

No, I think it was Yamamoto.

I don't know. Yeah, that's right, you had a lot of them. But they were two incredible players. Good, you still -- would you give it to him, huh? Got to go with them. They've got to go. Great job. But sprinting home by a fraction of a second, that was the one I guess I'm talking about with the catcher with the foot, right?

Yes.

It was unbelievable. His foot was off the plate, but instead of just sort of bluffing it like I would do in baseball, I bluff it, you know, like pretending it was on. He went what! And then he went back and touched the plate. And if he didn't, that was the end of that game, right? Unbelievable. Congratulate him.

Then Andy Pages -- I wanted to get that one right.

You got it right.

I wanted to get that one right. I had to get that right because the Y is an H. And it was easy once they told me that. I can't get you wrong, I'd be in big trouble. But Andy came off the bench for one single play in the outfield; the Blue Jays drove a deep fly ball over his head. So, he turned and he sprinted over 120 feet, colliding with his teammate and making one of the most memorable catches in the history of the World Series.

It was crazy, that catch. That was unbelievable. And he was put in for defensive purposes. Was that a good move? Do you think you have a good manager maybe? You did that for defensive, because that was a hell of a catch. And then two extra innings later the Dodgers -- I mean this was truly a great World Series, right?

Maybe the best in history.

Yeah, I mean -- yeah, I mean, I watched -- I was watching it and I had a reason, but I was watching it and I thought it was incredible, actually. Two extra innings later, the Dodgers scored the go ahead run and Yoshi closed out the game 1-0 day's rest, becoming the first pitcher in over two decades to win three games in a single World Series.

And he hit real well, too. This team proudly brought home the championship for the USA. And if they manage to repeat this year, they would become the first team to win three in a row since the days of the legendary baseball dynasty, the 1990 New York Yankees. And I was there for a lot of those games with George Steinbrenner.

He was a friend of mine, and he was a guy -- he liked winning. He would do anything to win. He would do anything to win, I tell you. But you're doing the same thing. It's amazing, Mark. Once again, congratulations, everyone, on this historic trip, this great journey that you're on. And you know, I know so many people in baseball.

I know the owners, they work so hard. They spend so much money on talent and everything else. And I see you here again and probably again and again and again. And it's a real talent between you and Dave and the people that do all the selecting and these unbelievable athletes behind me. I have great respect, really great respect.

So, Mark, if you'd say a few words and then Dave and I want to thank everybody for being here. This is really a special team; it's special winners, they're champions and just unbelievable. And I wouldn't be surprised to see him back again. Thank you very much. Thank you, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President. It's truly an honor for us to be back at the White House again. We are so proud of our 2025 championship team and our back-to-back titles. This is such an exceptional group of people --

Oh, I think -- sorry about that. OK.

OK, yeah.

OK. It's back to back titles, and we're once again here to celebrate with this great tradition of celebrating a championship with the president of the United States. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

We're grateful to be here, following another incredible season with what many believe was the greatest World Series ever played. Winning back to back championships is an extraordinary accomplishment, and it reflects the talent, determination and character of everyone in the organization. Thank you for welcoming us today, Mr. President.

We're proud of that team and what it has achieved, and we hope to be back here again next year.

Good. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mark. Thank you, Mr. President. And I had a script, but I just want to say that we're very grateful to be here and you said the term winners many times and, uh, this group of men, uh, and some men that aren't here that were a part of the '25 World Series championship, um, were big parts of this.

The support staff, the coaches, front office ownership, men of character, people of character and we did something that hasn't been done in over 30 years, going back to back World Series champions, and we are going for a three-peat. We're in the middle of this season right now, the grind, so thank you. Um, the only thing I'll have to say is I hope when you watch our guys play, uh, you can be proud and say, these guys do things the right way.

Their names are everywhere on social media, in the news, but when it comes to winning 11 games in October or 13 last year, these guys all come together unselfishly and you never know what moment is going to present itself but we have all these guys here that are ready when called upon, so we're very fortunate to have these guys and hopefully we got more Dodger fans.

So thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you, sir.

Great job, Dave. Thank you. Wow. Oh, that looks good.

We'd like to present this to you as a --

Oh, wow.

-- honorary.

Oh. Oh, you have to be kidding, huh? Wow. Do I have to report this? I don't want to report this. That's beautiful. Thank you very much.

It's got your name on it, so it's fully worth it to you.

Is that so? That's right. That's really beautiful. That's beautiful. Thank you. Thank you, fellas. You know what that looks like? Thank you very much.

And --

You know what, I'll put it right here.

Yeah, right. Darn right. And a world series jersey.

Thank you very much.

47

Wow. Thank you. And I just want to say, something I don't do often, but, so right behind me is the Oval Office and as I said, this is the first time we've ever done this here in the Rose Garden, because now it's equipped to do it and I hope you like those cushions, because they are four inches as opposed to one inch.

It's supposed to be one inch, like this, like a little pad. And I said, get me the four inch ones. They don't make them. Now they're going to make them after they see this on television. They'll probably -- they'll make a fortune with them, but they are pretty cool. But I just want to say that we're steps away from the most powerful office in the world, the Oval Office, where everything begins and ends and begins.

It's all -- there's nothing like it. Most important people in the world go in here. We had King Charles here three weeks ago. We have President Xi coming in another three weeks. He's going to be coming here in September. But people walk into the Oval Office and no matter who they are, they just sort of feel sort of different.

And it's a great place to negotiate, because everyone's all discombobulated when they walk in and this is a great time for me to negotiate with them. So we do that as often as possible, but I did it with the Dodgers the last time, and I'm going to do it with the Dodgers this time, because we have a special, beautiful coin that everybody loves and everybody wants.

And if the Dodgers would like, we're going to walk and this time it's much closer because last time we had to walk all the way from the other side of the building, there's the ballroom and the military facility. Here's the helipad we're building. We're building a beautiful helipad after many years, a helicopter -- you know, helicopters are landing on the grass and the new helicopters didn't do well on grass.

So we're putting up a beautiful helipad and have a lot of things going. We're bringing this building to a level that it was not at, even when it was first built in 1792, if you can believe it. So we're doing little things that as a real estate person, I love doing it to me. It's an honor. It's a great honor to do it. But so what we're going to do is we're going to take this unbelievable team to the Oval Office, and we're going to present them with some great things.

And I just want to thank everybody very much. This is a special moment and I think especially because it's the Dodgers and it's Dave and Mark and people that are unbelievable, in their own right, unbelievable talents and leaders. Thank you very much and a job well done. Thank you very much. Thank you. So let's go.