The Dodgers celebrate their repeat World Series title with another gathering at the stadium

The celebration had not yet begun when Shohei Ohtani first voiced the day’s theme.

“I’m already thinking about the third time,” he said in Japanese, as he stood atop a double-decker bus in downtown Los Angeles with thousands of blue-clad, flag-waving Dodgers fans celebrating the championship and lining the streets around him for the team’s 2025 World Series parade.

It turns out he wasn’t alone.

Two days after a dramatic Game 7 victory that made baseball’s Dodgers the first repeat champion in 25 years, the team strolled the downtown streets and into a sold-out rally at Dodger Stadium on Monday already thinking about what lies ahead in 2026.

With three titles in the past six seasons, their contemporary dynasty may now be cemented.

But their goal of adding to this “golden era of Dodger baseball,” as CEO Andrew Friedman has repeatedly described it, is far from over.

“All I have to tell you is we’ll be back next year,” owner and chairman Mark Walter told 52,703 fans at the team’s stadium.

“I have a crazy idea for you,” Friedman echoed. “How about we do it again?”

When manager Dave Roberts took the microphone, he tripled his efforts in achieving that goal: “What’s better than two? Three! Three-peat! Three-peat! Let’s go.”

When shortstop Mookie Betts, the only active player with four World Series rings, followed suit, he quadrupled expectations: “You’ve got four. Now it’s time to fill the whole hand, baby. ‘Three-peat’ has never looked so pretty. Somebody make that jersey.”

For these Dodgers who have made history and sealed a legacy, Monday was a reminder of the ultimate ultimate goal — the kind of spectacle that, as they embark on another short winter, will soon fuel their motivation for another candy-filled show this time next year.

“For me, winning the championship, the key moment is the presentation,” Friedman said. “The exhilaration that comes from doing that, when you come out of the final, whichever one you win, is special. That night is special. But to be able to catch a breath and then experience the show, in my mind, that’s what’s always driven me to want to win.”

“[To] “Do it for the city, that’s what it’s all about,” added first baseman Freddie Freeman. “There is nothing more important than winning a championship. If it happens three times in a row, that is it. But that is what will keep us going.”

Last November, the Dodgers’ first pitch in 36 years was something new.

Much of the group was part of the 2020 title team that was denied such a song after that pandemic-altered campaign. They’ve waited four long years to experience a city-wide celebration. The reception they received was emotional and unique.

Now, as third baseman Max Muncy said with a sly smile from atop a makeshift podium at Dodger Stadium, “It’s starting to feel a little off here. Let’s get on with it.”

“Losing is not an option,” star pitcher and World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto added in English, in response to one of his memorable quotes last October.

Doing so will not be easy.

This year, the Dodgers’ win total dropped to 93 wins in an inconsistent regular season. They had to play in the Wild Card Round for the first time since the playoffs expanded in 2022. In the World Series, they faced elimination in Games 6 and 7, narrowly winning both to complete their quest for a repeat.

“I still can’t believe we won Game 7,” fan favorite Kiki Hernandez said in an interview on top of the bus.

But he quickly added: “We’re all winners. And winners win.”

Thus they also get celebrations like Monday.

As was the case 367 days ago, the Dodgers wound up on the parade route in front of tens of thousands of fans from Temple Street to Grand Avenue to 7th Street to Figueroa. Whether aboard the double-decker buses or among the frenzied crowds below, there was joy and drinks flowing.

Once the team arrived at Dodger Stadium, they climbed to the top of a blue circular platform in center field — the final symbolic steps of their ascent back to the top of the mountain of the sport.

Anthony Anderson introduced them to the crowd, while Ice Cube delivered the trophy in a blue 1957 Chevy Bel Air.

Familiar sights, which they hope will become an annual tradition.

“Job in 2024, done. Job in 2025, done,” Freeman said. “Job in 2026? Starts now.”

The Dodgers took some time to recognize their new place in baseball history, after becoming the sixth MLB franchise to win three titles in a six-year period and the first since the New York Yankees from 1998-2000 to win in consecutive years.

While last year’s parade day felt like a belated coronation, this day helped crystallize their legacy.

“Everyone was asking questions about the dynasty,” Hernandez said. “How about three in six years? What about going back?”

And on Monday, all the main characters in this storied achievement got their moment in the sun.

There was, as team announcer and rally director Joe Davis described it, the “Hall of Fame-bound” Roberts, who now trails only Walter Alston in team history by three World Championship rings.

“We talked about last year, about how we wanted to bring it back,” he said. “And I’ll tell you right now, this group of guys will never be denied from bringing another championship to this city.”

There was Game 7 hero Miguel Rojas calling up October Surprise near Rocky Sasaki, on his birthday, to dance to his entrance song “Bailalo Rocky”; A request that Sasaki sheepishly answered by pumping his fist to the beat.

Yamamoto, having achieved his heroic victories in Games 6 and 7, received some of the loudest applause of the day.

“We did it together,” he added. “I love the Dodgers. I love Los Angeles.”

Muncy, Ohtani and Blake Snell also addressed the crowd.

“I’m trying to get used to this,” Snell said.

“I’m ready for another episode next year,” Ohtani reiterated.

One face of the franchise who won’t be returning for this chase: Clayton Kershaw, who rode into the sunset of retirement by getting one last day at Dodger Stadium, fighting back tears as he thanked the crowd at the end of his illustrious (and also Hall of Fame) 18-year career.

“Last year, I said I was a lifelong Dodger. Today, that’s true,” Kershaw said. “Today, I can say I am a champion for life. And that will never go away.”

Kershaw, of course, is one of the few still around from the club’s dark days in the early 2010s, when money was scarce, the playoffs were uncertain and offers were just things you dream about — don’t expect.

With his departure, the entire team changed.

Now, the Dodgers have hit 13 straight seasons. They set salary records and bolstered their roster with a wave of star signings. They have turned the pursuit of championships into an annual expectation, proud but dissatisfied with what they have achieved so far.

“I think, in particular, it’s a dynasty,” said Friedman, the architect of this race with the help of Walter’s money-rich Guggenheim ownership group. “But for me, in many ways, this is kind of the ceiling if you say, ‘Okay, this is what it is.’ For me, it’s still developing and growing. We want to add to it. We want to continue that, and do everything we can to put it at a level that is difficult for those after us to reach.”

On Monday, they raised that bar another notch higher.

“That show was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen and been a part of,” Kershaw said. “It’s truly the most amazing day you can ever end your career.”

On Tuesday, the Dodgers’ long road to catching another begins.

“I know they’re going to get another one next year,” Kershaw told the crowd. “And I will be watching, like all of you.”