After the Dodgers’ historic World Series win, fans gathered at the “Welcome to Dodger Stadium” sign, which is now a makeshift altar for Fernando Valenzuela. Jonathan Gonzalez reports for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024.
When you think of LA sports fanbases, it can be argued there are none as passionate as Dodger fans.
Year in, year out, Dodger fans support their team win or lose, but thankfully this year, they’re celebrating Major League Baseball’s biggest win of all — the 2024 World Series.
“LA is all about the Dodgers right here. If you're not for the Dodgers, I don't know what to tell you,” said Albert Mireles, waving his giant blue Dodger flag outside of Dodger Stadium. “This is Dodger town.”
The morning after the Dodgers’ World Series-clinching victory over the New York Yankees, fans showed up to the “Welcome to Dodger Stadium” sign, which has been turned into a makeshift altar to memorialize Dodgers great Fernando Valenzuela.
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“It feels so good to be with other Dodger fans and feel their electricity,” said Yuni Kim. “I didn't get to do that during the pandemic, and so it's just really nice to feel all this positivity and energy and excitement for the team. A team that has been through a lot.”
From the historic signing of Shohei Ohtani and his subsequent historic season, to Freddie Freeman’s son becoming ill mid-season and the first baseman’s record-setting World Series MVP performance, Dodger fans had plenty to root for this year.
“Dave Roberts is our hero. I don't ever want to hear criticism of him again,” Kim said. “Thank you to the Dodgers so much for this, for this memory that I get to share with my friends and family.”
Yet even as they celebrate, they mourn the death of Valenzuela just days before the start of the World Series.
Crystal Camba said she still feels his presence.
“He is within us. Every day,” she said. “He's in the dirt, he's in the green, he's in the bases, he's in the micheladas, he's in the hot dogs. He's everywhere, just like Vin Scully.”
And now the 2024 season is cemented within the hearts of LA Dodgers fans, who bleed blue for their team.
“I think for LA natives and people who have adopted la cultura of baseball, it’s just like, wow, it's for them to feel the energy and feel how we carry this as a culture itself within our community,” Camba said. “It has really made people admire and want to take a little piece of it and be a part of it.”
