The Dodgers marched in from center field on a blue carpet. The Commissioner’s Trophy cruised in from the parking lot in an icy blue convertible.
The championship flag was raised by the owners. The championship sign was unveiled by two fire department officials.
The pregame festivities before the Dodgers’ home opener at Chavez Ravine was nicely rolling along Thursday when suddenly, appropriately, in its final moments, sweet became spectacular.
The ceremony finished with a homer from the guys who hit the homers.
Moments after Freddie Freeman and his family were honored for his Game 1 game-winning grand slam in last year’s World Series, out of the Dodger dugout popped Kirk Gibson, the Game 1 homer-hitting hero of 1988.
Gibson walked to the mound. Freeman walked behind home plate. Gibson tossed him a pitch. They hugged. The crowd roared in surprise and appreciation. Goose bumps everywhere.
As the Dodgers’ mascot and trophy chauffeur Ice Cube once famously said, “Today was a good day.”
For those wondering what the defending champions can possibly do for an encore, they began to answer that question Thursday on a perfectly choreographed return to town in front of a sellout crowd that screamed like it was still guzzling last October’s champagne.
On the field, their shirts and caps adorned in gold lettering honoring their championship, the Dodgers remained untarnished with a comeback 5-4 win over the Detroit Tigers. Just like so many times last season, big hits powered the victory. And just like so many times, they came from Teoscar Hernández and Shohei Ohtani, who homered in the fifth and seventh innings, respectively, to help the Dodgers beat defending AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal.
Three games, three wins, and you have to ask … 162-0 anyone?
Off the field, the organization classily honored their present with a bow to their past, bringing Gibson back for a rare appearance that reminded their enduring fan base why they keep coming back opener after opener.
“I thought the ceremony was fantastic… we nailed it,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
It was particularly special for fans such as 92-year-old Phil Brooks, the retired physician attending his 60th consecutive home opener, more than half a century experiencing rebirth from the field level.
Brooks was wearing a faded 20-year-old Dodger jacket, but his passion was undimmed.
“I just love the home opener,” he said. “It’s a renewal, when all hopes are possible.”
Like many Dodger fans, this is a tradition Brooks has passed on to his family, as he was accompanied Thursday for the 40th consecutive opener by his son, Stan. During the rest of the season Stan brings his three sons to the games, prepping them for the time when they will take their destined spot in the home opener seats.
“I’ve loved sharing this day,” Phil said. “Every year is the beginning of new hopes and dreams.”
Dodger Stadium was filled with both for a team that had already swept its first two games against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo. While those first two games counted in the standings, they really didn’t count in the soul, which was newly refreshed in a home opener that featured stars familiar and new.
Tommy Edman, the hero of last fall’s National League Championship Series, blasted a second-inning homer.
Hernández, who the Dodgers smartly retained as a free agent this winter, hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning after an Andy Pages single and a Mookie Betts walk.
Ohtani, whose bat understands big moments better than any in baseball, clinched the win with a solo blast in the seventh.
“It was amazing,” Hernández said. “It was a great feeling to be back at Dodger Stadium.”
Then there were the new kids, starting with Blake Snell, the two-time Cy Young winning starter who signed a five-year $182-million contract in the offseason. He was frustrating but efficient, walking four and loading the bases twice but eventually yielding two runs in five innings for the win. Snell was eventually followed by a shaky one-run inning from new reliever Tanner Scott, who was in the dugout when last season’s World Series-clinching hero Blake Treinen finished it.
“I’ve got a lot to learn… a lot to improve on,” Snell said.
No matter who was starring, every good Dodger play was greeted with a roar that rang of familiarity. This is how Dodger Stadium sounded last year. This is why the Dodgers have such a powerful home-field advantage.
“The fans, just feeling the energy and how much the fans love the team… while I was getting ready I could feel how encouraging they were before the start, how much they showed love to me, that was pretty cool,” Snell said. “Then you go out there and you want to do everything you can to win.”
These fans deserved one more chance to celebrate the title. This opening weekend series, which features a Friday ring ceremony, gives them that chance.
Dodgers fan George Serrano, center, cheers as F-35s and F-15s fly over Dodger Stadium before the home opener Thursday.
“I’m telling you, I just think that our fan base has waited a long time for this kind of culmination,” Roberts said. “It was a huge offseason for the organization, for the club, and then you kind of go to Tokyo and get a chance to be received in Japan like we were. And all the while, our fans here are just watching in anticipation for us to come back here. There’s just a lot of excitement and traction, momentum, whatever you want to say, with the Dodger fan base. Our players feel it.”
The Dodgers’ loud homecoming emphasized not only the Dodger muscle, but the strength of their fans.
“Huge advantage,” Roberts said. “You can talk to any relief pitcher that faces us in the late innings, seventh, eighth and ninth inning, and they feel the pressure, and they feel it when the game’s on the line. So I would say probably the biggest advantage is when we’re hitting in the bottom half of the inning in the later innings.”
The home opener ended early Thursday evening with the sweetest noise of all.
Welcome back, Randy Newman.
