LOS ANGELES — The night began with an exhilarating ring ceremony and marching band ended with the electrifying sound of a trumpet for the guy on the mound who didn’t have a World Series ring.
“Yeah, they got their rings,” Los Angeles Dodgers closer Edwin Diaz told USA TODAY Sports, “but I got the ball.”
Diaz, making his first appearance as a Dodger, was serenaded onto the field by a local trumpet player, Tatiana Tate, playing “Narco,” Diaz’s iconic entrance song in New York that he brought along to the West Coast, much to the elation of the crowd of 51,540 at Dodger Stadium.
They erupted when Diaz, the previous All-Star closer for the New Mets, struck out two batters in the ninth and ended the game with second baseman Ketel Marte hitting a weak groundout to end the game and preserve the Dodgers’ 5-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“I enjoyed it,” Diaz said. “I know the crowd enjoyed it, too.”
Oh, did they ever, and after watching the Dodgers’ bullpen shut down the Diamondbacks for the second consecutive night, they’re going to have “Narco” dancing in their heads by the time October rolls around.
“I think we have one of the best bullpens in the league,” Diaz said. “We’ll see what happens at the end of the year, but right now on paper, we look amazing.”
It’s just two games in a long, grueling season, but the Dodgers already are showing they can beat you in so many ways. They’ll beat you with the long ball, as Mookie Betts showed with his three-run homer in the third inning. They can beat you playing little ball, with Shohei Ohtani hitting a ground ball to the right side in the eighth inning, setting up Kyle Tucker to produce the game-winning hit past a drawn-in infield. They can beat you with their rotation, as Yoshinobu Yamamoto proved in their season opener. By the way, Ohtani pitches next week.
And, their unsung heroes may be their bullpen, which has now pitched 8 ⅔ shutout innings, giving up just four hits.
“We got great arms everywhere,” says Tanner Scott, who lost his closer’s role, and has been perfect for the Dodgers in his two outings, striking out Alek Thomas with two runners on and two outs in the sixth inning Thursday, March 26. “The starting rotation. The bullpen. And our lineup is incredible.
“It’s awesome, we got such a deep bullpen and got everyone for every opportunity.”
The key is Diaz, who is one of the finest closers in the game, a three-time winner of the Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera awards, exemplifying the game’s top reliever. He opted out of his contract last winter with the Mets, and everyone assumed he’d be back, only for more money. The Mets instead signed Devin Williams, and even though they said they still wanted to re-sign Diaz, he wasn’t so sure just how genuine their interest actually was in bringing him back.
So, he took the Dodgers’ three-year, $69 million offer, and never looked back.
“I didn’t think we had a chance going into the winter,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
Roberts went on vacation, received a call from the front office to ask him to be on a zoom recruiting call with Diaz and his agents. They spoke for 45 minutes. When Roberts got off the call, he excitedly summoned his wife.
“I go, ‘We’re going to get him,’ ” Roberts said. “So, I felt really good about it. So that was just a hunch, It was just kind of selling ourselves, talking about how much we value him, and the culture, the team and the ownership, and how we’ll do anything to win.
‘If you really want to win a championship, this is the place to be.’ “
Perhaps the best recruiting tool, Roberts says, was Diaz’s little brother, Alexis. The Dodgers traded for Alexis Diaz last May, and although he was in the organization barely three months, and appeared in only nine games, he gave his big brother rave reviews about the Dodgers.
“That was a big help because coming here as a call-up from the minors,” Roberts said, “and us treating him like a superstar, I think that kind of helped make that decision and comfort going forward.”
Certainly, it makes life a whole lot easier for Roberts knowing he finally has a closer he can trust, setting up the rest of the bullpen for a game.
The Dodgers blew 27 saves last year, with Scott blowing 10 of them. They knew if they had a chance for a three-peat, they’d have to fix their glaring weakness. And now that their bullpen is light’s out, you need a microscope to discover any flaws in the Dodgers’ arsenal.
“To be honest with you,” Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas said, “our expectation is to win every single game. We don’t feel like there’s a game this season that we don’t have a chance to win. That’s the mentality of everybody in this clubhouse.”
It’s the reason why the Dodgers certainly enjoyed their elaborate rings, their third in six years, they already are planning on finding a finger for their next championship ring.
“It was really fun to watch those guys get their rings,” Diaz said. “So that’s my goal is to be in that moment next year. I want to help this team win. If we can stay healthy, this team has a chance to do it again.”
Certainly, while Diaz loves being the showman with “Narco” blaring in the background, he realized that the greatest show of the night was the Dodgers’ ring ceremony, leaving the crowd screaming, rejoicing and even gasping at times.
It began with “Shining Star” blaring over the loudspeakers by Earth, Wind & Fire, and comedian/actor Anthony Anderson was the emcee as the players walked along the blue carpet from the dugout to a stage behind the pitcher’s mound, serenaded by the USC marching band playing in center field.
The rings were handed out by Dodgers chairman Mark Walter, who was accompanied on stage with team president Stan Kasten, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and GM Mark Walter, who shook hands, hugged and warmly embraced more than 30 players.
It began with the rookies and part-time players from last year, shifted to the starting pitchers, and then the position players. The loudest ovations went to Kiké Hernández, who has played the most postseason games than any Dodger; Ohtani, who won his fourth MVP; Betts, who won his fourth World Series ring; Freddie Freeman, who hit walk-off homers in back-to-back World Series; and Rojas, who hit the dramatic Game 7-tying home run in the ninth inning The 20-minute ceremony ended with World Series MVP Yamamoto, who won Game 6 and Game 7.
There was an audible groan when Anderson announced the show was over, but then came the curtain call. Orel Hershiser, the 1988 World Series hero, walked to the mound to throw out the ceremonial first pitch when Roberts grabbed the mic. He called back Hershiser, and said he had another left-hander in mind.
Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers’ retired three-time Cy Young winner and future Hall of Famer, emerged from the dugout and the crowd stood and roared. He walked to the mound, threw the ceremonial first pitch, and seconds later, the entire Dodgers’ team emerged from the dugout to greet Kershaw.
They brought along the World Series championship ring, with Roberts handing it to him, and the ovation became deafening as Kershaw, who will be a special assistant in the Dodgers’ front office, waved to the crowd.
“For me, it’s just a great ending to my career,” Kershaw said, “so I couldn’t have scripted it any better.”
Kershaw, just like his former teammates, couldn’t stop staring at the spectacular rings. The 14K yellow gold rings, with 32 diamonds spelling out WORLD and 54 diamonds selling out CHAMPIONS, featured engravings of the 2024 and 2025 World Series trophies on the outside and inside of the rings. The L.A. logo is set with 17 custom-cut blue sapphires, one for every postseason game the Dodgers played. On the underside of the ring their four playoff series victories — against the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers and Toronto Blue Jays — are listed, along with 11.01.25, the date of World Series Game 7. There’s even the number: 4,012,470, signifying their season attendance.
The coolest part of the ring is that there’s a glass window beneath the ring top with actual dirt collected from home plate from Game 7 in the “ring-within-a-ring” design.
“It’s why we play,” Kershaw said, “to win some of these rings. The ring is pretty over the top.”
Then again, so are these Dodgers.
“Everybody knows we had a really good team last year,” Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández said. “But at the same time, I think we’re excited because this team could even be better.’”
And now, for the first time, they’ll be trying to win it all without one of the greatest pitchers in franchise history in Kershaw, who is gone, but will never be forgotten.
Who knows, he may even pop in once in awhile from his Dallas home in his new role as a special assistant.
“There’s a freedom with retirement,” Kershaw said. “If you don’t want to work out, you don’t have to. If your back hurts, it doesn’t matter. If your arm hurts, it doesn’t matter. You get to see a lot more stuff, be around for everything. It doesn’t take away from how special playing this game is, but there’s a lot of really awesome parts about being home.”
But for one last time, he was able to celebrate with his teammates, treasuring the greatness they achieved together.
“It was pretty special,” Kershaw said. “I know they’ve got to move on to this season. But I don’t have to. So, I’m just going to keep relishing it.’”
Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale
