Dodgers' White House visit won't be part of April road trip to DC

Bill Plunkett, The Orange County Register on Mar 11, 2026

Published in Baseball

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GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Dodgers will likely make the traditional post-championship visit to the White House again this year, but it won’t happen during their only scheduled visit to Washington D.C.

The Dodgers’ first road trip of the regular season will start in Washington with three games against the Nationals on April 3-5. But sources confirmed that the Dodgers will not visit the White House.

Citing an unnamed White House official, the New York Post reported that the Trump administration has extended the traditional invitation to the White House and the Dodgers have accepted. However, scheduling issues will prevent the team from visiting during its series against the Nationals. All three games at Nationals Park on Easter and Passover weekend are day games — 1 p.m. ET on Friday (the Nationals’ home opener), 4 p.m. on Saturday and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.

The Dodgers are off on Thursday, the day before the series starts, and could theoretically travel early and visit the White House on April 2, but there are scheduling conflicts that prevent that.

The Dodgers also traveled to Washington early in the 2025 season and were hosted by President Donald Trump at the White House on April 7, recognizing their 2024 World Series victory. There were calls for the Dodgers to skip the visit as a protest against the Trump Administration’s policies. Those calls have only intensified since the Dodgers’ second consecutive World Series win with immigration rights groups the most vocal.

Asked by the Los Angeles Times this winter about making the White House visit, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said unequivocally that he would attend.

“For me, it doesn’t matter who is in the office, I’m going to go to the White House,” Roberts told the Times. “I am going to continue to try to do what tradition says and not try to make political statements, because I am not a politician.”

There are some indications that not everyone in the Dodgers’ organization feels the same as Roberts. But a full team boycott of the White House visit is highly unlikely.

With the Nationals series out of consideration, selecting a date for the visit will be complicated — and the inconvenience created could provide cover for some to skip the occasion.

The closest the Dodgers travel to Washington after the opening trip is a nine-game stretch in New York and Philadelphia following the All-Star break.

A side trip to D.C. before the July 17-19 series at Yankee Stadium would shorten the All-Star break by a day for Dodgers players — a sacrifice many would not likely endorse. After three games in Philadelphia, however, the Dodgers have an off day before returning to New York for a three-game series against the Mets.

That off day (July 23) might be the least disruptive — and therefore most likely — to schedule a return to the White House.

Dodgers officials have declined to make any comments about the status of a potential White House visit.