Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers visited the White House on Monday, but it was Donald Trump who appeared to be the most awestruck person in the building ... as he fanboyed out over Shohei Ohtani.

The L.A. slugger and the rest of the Boys in Blue cruised out to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue just a few hours before their game with the Nationals to celebrate their 2024 World Series title ... and Trump was clearly enamored with the team's Japanese two-way player.

Trump called Shohei out by name during his speech about the Dodgers' big year ... praising him for his one-of-a-kind 50-50 season.

Los Angeles fans ain't just getting a glimpse at the best player in baseball in Shohei Ohtani, they're looking at the best athlete on the planet ... at least, that's according to former World Series champion Jerry Hairston Jr.

The longtime Big Leaguer sat down with TMZ Sports a day after the Dodgers' designated hitter beat the Braves with a walk-off home run ... and he proclaimed the superstar is now officially the top sportsman on the globe.

"No disrespect to [Lionel] Messi," he said. "No disrespect to Patrick Mahomes, [Nikola] Jokic -- who's having an incredible season again with the Nuggets. But I think right now, the best athlete on the planet is Shohei Ohtani."

The Shohei Ohtani MVP bobblehead night turned into a money-making opportunity for some Dodger fans ... with folks who got lucky enough to get rare versions of the giveaway going to online sellers for a quick payday!!

Tons of bobbleheads were handed out at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday ... and out of the tens of thousands of mini Shoheis, some special edition copies that featured a silver bat and MVP plaque were randomly scattered throughout the batch.

A few of those highly coveted bobbles have now made it to eBay ... and they ain't going for cheap.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are set to honor Shohei Ohtani's 2024 MVP win with a stadium-wide bobblehead giveaway ... and fans are eager to get their mitts on one -- as lines began forming outside the venue hours before first pitch!!

Videos from the scene showcase the diehards' patience ahead of the team's series finale against the Atlanta Braves. While everyone in attendance is supposed to take home a bobblehead, people seemingly aren't willing to risk it.

It's not the first time an Ohtani giveaway drew amusement park-esque queues -- a giveaway last season featuring his pup, Decoy, had folks lining up over eight hours early for the item.

A piece of Major League Baseball history is up for grabs -- the baseball from the final out of the 2024 World Series ... and it may be a long time before an item like this hits the open market again!!

Harlan Werner -- the CEO of the Memorabilia Network -- gave TMZ Sports an up-close look at the special item before bidding goes live on April 5 ... and he explained why similar balls hardly come around.

"To say that someone's not going to have an opportunity to buy the last out of the World Series, I believe will not happen again in my lifetime," he said. "Either the team is going to keep it, or it's just not going to happen. This is a very, very, very unique situation."

A highly coveted Shohei Ohtani card just sold for some insane coin at auction -- a record $1,067,500, to be exact!

The 1-of-1 autographed card -- which features a piece of Ohtani's pants when he reached the 50/50 club -- is from Topps' "Dynasty Black" line and has a PSA Mint 9 Auto 9 grade.

The rare memorabilia was made available by Heritage Auctions ... and once bidding closed on Saturday, the final price tag was revealed.

Resorts World casino in Las Vegas just got hit with a bad beat ... as the venue was fined $10.5 million in connection to a money laundering case involving a bookmaker who took thousands of bets for Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board dropped the news on Friday ... saying  the two sides entered into a settlement over the "unsuitable methods of operation primarily resulting from activities at the licensed property by illegal bookmakers Matthew Bowyer and Damien LeForbes."

Along with the fine ... the Vegas location will be making changes to its executive leadership and implementing stricter protocols to prevent money laundering, but it will not have to admit or deny any of the allegations made against it.

Ice Cube delivered the Commissioner's trophy to the 2024 World Series champion Dodgers before their home opener on Thursday ... and he did it in true California style, like only an L.A. legend could!

Cube had the honor of handing over the coveted hardware ... and he did it in a totally unique way, cruising on the field in what looks like a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.

As you can imagine, the 53K plus fans in the house went nuts when they saw the "Check Yo Self" rapper who was dripped out in an all-Dodgers blue fit.

Former Dodgers star Julio Urias has just been suspended for roughly half the 2025 season ... after the MLB announced the pitcher violated its domestic violence policy.

Commissioner Rob Manfred revealed the punishment on Wednesday ... nearly two years after Urias was accused of roughing up his wife outside of BMO Stadium in Los Angeles following an LAFC vs. Inter Miami matchup.

"The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball has completed its investigation into allegations that free agent pitcher Julio Urías violated Major League Baseball’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy," the commish said in a statement.

Dodgers star Max Muncy was super pissed off after a fan derailed his attempt at catching a foul ball during the MLB Tokyo Series Wednesday ... but the culprit wasn't the average spectator -- it was ex-NFLer Rodney Peete!!

The random moment broke out amid L.A.'s 6-3 win over the Chicago Cubs in Japan ... when the 34-year-old third baseman ran near the seats to try and catch a pop-up.

Muncy was just inches away from making the highlight ... but Peete, too, extended his limb in hopes of getting a souvenir -- and he came away with it, which shouldn't come as a surprise considering he was also drafted several times by MLB teams, but pursued football instead.

Shohei Ohtani made his long-awaited return to the baseball diamond in Japan ... and he rocked some special cleats for the occasion -- which prominently featured his beloved pup, Decoy!!

Ohtani gave fans a close look at the footwear following his Los Angeles Dodgers' 4-1 win over the Chicago Cubs ... showing off the popular pooch stitched into the heel of his shoe and painted on the bottom.

He also displayed some tasty treats his wife, Mamiko, got from Ete ... which is an exclusive restaurant in Japan that says they only serve one group per day!

The MLB officially kicked off its 2025 season in Japan on Tuesday morning ... and plenty of celebs caught lengthy flights to check out the action in person -- including Bill Murray!!

The diehard Chicago supporter was joined by Billie Jean King, Ken Griffey Jr. and a host of other legends to catch Game 1 of the Cubs vs. Dodgers Tokyo Series ... and the action both on the diamond and off of it didn't disappoint.

Shohei Ohtani starred, recording two hits and scoring two runs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga each pitched great games, too.

Shohei Ohtani and Takashi Murakami teamed up to autograph some highly coveted baseball cards ahead of the MLB Tokyo Series ... and it goes without saying, these pieces of cardboard are going to be insanely valuable.

The Los Angeles Dodgers superstar and famous Japanese artist got together on Monday ... where they opened several boxes of the exclusive Topps x Takashi Murakami MLB Tokyo Series collection.

They appeared on Fanatics Live and signed "redemption cards" for two Topps sets created by Murakami ... which will surely be highly coveted by any collector.

The Dodgers will kick off the 2025 campaign without their star shortstop ... Mookie Betts will miss the opening series with an illness -- which was so bad the former A.L. MVP dropped 15 lbs!

Manager Dave Roberts made the announcement Monday in Tokyo ... saying that while Betts has begun to feel better, he's still trying to get his strength back, and rehydrate from the couple of days he was ill.

"When you're dehydrated, that's what opens a person up to soft tissue injuries. We're very mindful of that," the skipper said, making it clear he didn't want to risk injury with Mookie.

The Tokyo Dome was PACKED with fans wanting to get a glimpse of the Dodgers in action ... but the crazy part is it wasn't even for a game -- it was just a workout!!

More than 10,000 fans filed into the stadium to catch local heroes Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki and their Dodgers teammates take the field for practice ahead of their two-game tilt against Chicago in the MLB Tokyo Series starting on Tuesday.

For spectators who wanted an early preview of the World Series champs, the get-in price for the workout was ¥2,000 -- or about $13 here in the States. Tickets reportedly sold out in about an hour.

Sorry, ladies of Los Angeles -- new Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki is off the market ... revealing he's a married man!!

The right-handed pitcher shared the personal news on his Instagram ... saying, "I recently registered my marriage with a non-celebrity woman."

"It's a new start both in my personal and professional life, and I'm full of hope and anxiety,
but we'll work hard together as a couple, so I hope you'll continue to support us."