Dodgers to become first sports team to visit White House under President Joe Biden
The Los Angeles Dodgers won their first World Series since 1988, and now they'll be the first champion sports team to visit the White House under President Joe Biden.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters on Thursday that the team will visit the White House on Friday amid a road series against the Washington Nationals, according to MLB.com's Juan Toribio.
The team already got a taste of a political visit with the presence of Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff in the clubhouse before Thursday's game.
Lifelong Dodger fan and Second Gentleman @DouglasEmhoff visited the Dodgers clubhouse prior to tonight’s game. pic.twitter.com/WEQb42WBje
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 1, 2021
Due to COVID-19 protocols, the Dodgers' visiting party will reportedly be limited to about 50 people, with only players who were on the Dodgers' championship team last year allowed to attend. That means Trevor Bauer, currently facing assault allegations, will not be in attendance.
Sports teams return to White House
No sports team has visited the White House since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the sports world back in March 2020.
Before that, whether or not a sports team would visit the White House was often a question under former president Donald Trump. All four World Series teams under Trump — the 2016 Chicago Cubs, 2017 Houston Astros, 2018 Boston Red Sox and 2019 Nationals — visited in some capacity, while no champion from the NBA, the league Trump loved to lambast, made the trip.
The Los Angeles Lakers, last year's NBA champion, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, last year's Super Bowl champion, have both received White House invitations "when it is COVID safe," but neither visit has yet materialized.
It is almost certainly too late for the Lakers to make the trip — a new NBA champion will be crowned within the next month — but the Bucs could still do so, possibly around their road game against the Washington Football Team on Nov. 14.
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