World Series

Donald Trump heaped TONS of praise on the Boston Red Sox at the White House -- calling out individuals like Chris Sale and J.D. Martinez ... while leaving out the key players who didn't show up.

As we previously reported, Sox manager Alex Cora boycotted the trip because he doesn't "feel comfortable" with Trump over the way POTUS handled the hurricane recovery efforts in Puerto Rico.

Other Red Sox players who refused to attend include Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, David Price and Red Sox legend David Ortiz.

Betts was the A.L. MVP last season and Price CRUSHED IT during the playoff run -- but got NO LOVE from Trump since they didn't show up to the White House on Thursday.

Same with Alex Cora.

Trump had glowing remarks for Chris Sale -- complimenting his World Series performance and the fact he struck out 14 batters Wednesday night in a regular season game against the Orioles.

Trump also invited the Red Sox players and staff in attendance to a personal tour of the Lincoln Bedroom -- a room that's supposed to be off-limits to the public.

TMZ Sports shot footage of some of the key execs arriving at the White House before the ceremony -- including VP of Baseball Operations Tony La Russa, owner John Henry, President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski and others.

Earlier Thursday, the Red Sox visited the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in the D.C. area -- where they visited patients.

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora is getting high praise from Elizabeth Warren -- who says she "admires" Cora for his decision to boycott Trump's White House over his treatment of Puerto Rico.

"He's right," Warren said about Cora ... "It's bad over there."

Cora -- who's from Puerto Rico -- announced he would NOT join the Red Sox at the White House on Thursday to be honored by the President for winning the 2018 World Series.

In his statement, Cora said he doesn't feel "comfortable" visiting Trump after the way POTUS handled recovery efforts in his native Puerto Rico after the 2017 hurricane.

And, when we saw Senator Warren [D-Mass] in D.C. Tuesday morning, she told us why she's throwing ALL of her support behind the MLB manager.

"He did this in a clear and respectful manner but he said, 'I can't go and show up for a photo op with someone who's been withholding funds from Puerto Rico.'"

"There's a lot of suffering going on over there," Warren added ... "I admire what [Cora is] doing."

Nearly $12 MILLION worth of fake championship and team rings are now OFF the market ... so say U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials -- who say they just seized 177 counterfeit pieces!

CBP officials announced Tuesday they found nearly 200 fake rings during an inspection of a March 11 shipment from China to the U.S.

The faux bling included Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots Super Bowl rings, New York Yankees World Series rings and much more.

And, we gotta say ... they do look pretty awesome.

But, officials say they caught the stuff before it could be sold to Americans -- claiming they saved U.S. consumers $11.7 MILLION with the seizure!!!

"This most recent interception of counterfeit sports rings demonstrates the ongoing vigilance and commitment to the mission by our CBP Officers and Import Specialists," officials said.

Alex Rodriguez proposed to Jennifer Lopez with a heavy hand ... quite literally.

A-Rod and J Lo just released pictures from his beachy proposal over the weekend ... with the former MLB star's World Series ring from 2009 with the Yankees damn near taking center stage. You can see in the pics Alex down on bended knee with his lone WS ring on his right hand.

But, J Lo's eyes were laser-focused on her new diamond ring and seemed surprised as hell. If you click on the picture slides ... you can see the happy couple embrace each other with a kiss while A-Rod's still down on one knee. And, BAM ... both A-Rod's World Series ring and her gigantic diamond are both on display.

But, ya gotta wonder ... which ring's bigger?

Boston Red Sox star Mookie Betts is sitting out a visit to the White House to celebrate his team's World Series win.

According to the Boston Globe, Betts was asked about the trip to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Saturday night -- which is currently scheduled for May -- and he reportedly said, "I won't be going there. I decided not to." He didn't elaborate beyond that, but he joins at least one other Sox player skipping it ... third baseman Rafael Devers also said he'd be a no-show.

FWIW ... Betts is the American League MVP, and arguably the best player on the Sox's roster. It's kind of a big deal in baseball if one of the best of the best doesn't wanna meet with President Trump.

Three other Red Sox players are reportedly on the fence, but the rest of the team has expressed interest in meeting with the Prez. The team was supposed to head out there in February, but it was pushed back to May because of the government shutdown.

Red Sox President Sam Kennedy said he didn't feel it was appropriate to be celebrating at the White House while so many federal employees were going without a paycheck and struggling.

The Red Sox should ABSOLUTELY take their championship trip to the White House ... so says ex-MLB star Brad Penny, who says the team needs to support Donald Trump regardless of their opinions of him.

It's up in the air whether Boston will make its post-World Series visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave ... especially after manager Alex Cora publicly criticized the President in September.

But, Penny says it would be a huge mistake to not go ... telling TMZ Sports the team should be there.

"You gotta go," the ex-star pitcher says ... "You support the President whether you voted for him or not ... I think they just gotta go."

Penny knows a thing or two about those trips ... the 2-time All-Star went to George W. Bush's White House after his Marlins won it all back in 2003.

He says the trip was unforgettable ... and Red Sox players would regret not making it.

In fact -- Brad tells us he thinks Boston can send a strong message to those protesting Trump by going.

"All those protests and stuff, to me, we want everybody who's in office to do good ... I feel like a lot of people want Trump to fail and it's unfortunate."

Unclear whether Red Sox players will listen to Brad ... but we know at least one of their pitchers is on board.

Sammy Sosa clearly ain't bitter at his broken relationship with the Cubbies ... 'cause the Chicago legend tells TMZ Sports he's still rootin' for the team to make the World Series!!

Sosa's been blackballed from the Cubs organization since he retired -- with owner Tom Ricketts saying Sammy's gotta come clean regarding his alleged PED use before they welcome him back.

But, Sammy clearly ain't offended by all that ... 'cause he tells us he's not only keeping up with the team -- he's hoping they get a chance to win another ring!!

"Chicago, they've been playing for the last few years very, very nice, so I have to give that to Chicago, and I hope they continue to play like that and I hope next year they can go to the World Series!"

As for the Cubs' recent controversial move to trade Tommy La Stella ... Sosa weighed in on that for us.

The Red Sox players are STILL winning ... 'cause the bonus checks for their World Series "W" were just announced -- and Boston got paid!!!

Major League Baseball just announced the postseason bonus pool totaled $88 MILLION to be divided by all of the teams that made the 2018 playoffs.

The total pool number -- essentially made up of playoff stadium ticket sales -- is the largest pot in MLB history. It's divided by the 10 playoff teams based on how far they got.

The biggest payout was obviously Boston -- the champs split $31.7 million between 66 players, which came out to $416k each!

Not too shabby, but slightly LESS than the $438k each Houston Astros player got last year for winning the 2017 World Series.

Don't feel too bad for the 2018 losers ... Los Angeles will get a cut of the bonus money too -- with their checks coming in at $267,027.49 per player.

Here's how the rest of the playoff bonus money was distributed ...

Houston Astros -- $154,656.05 per player.

Milwaukee Brewers -- $122,957.13

Atlanta Braves -- $40,375.74

Cleveland Indians -- $37,040.29

Colorado Rockies -- $40,335.96

New York Yankees -- $43,081.55

Chicago Cubs -- $16,155.34

Oakland Athletics -- $19,760.35

Yeah, it still pays to be good.

The Red Sox kept their World Series party rollin' Sunday with some dudes that are pretty familiar with winning championships -- Tom Brady and Bill Belichick!!!

Alex Cora, J.D. Martinez and the boys hit Gillette Stadium before the Pats beat down the Packers ... showing off their new 'ship to The Goat, The Hoodie and the 65,878 fans in attendance.

Bill held the trophy ... J.D. got the crowd fired up ... Cora got a selfie in with Tom. Good times were had by all (sorry, Aaron Rodgers).

The Sox won the Series two weekends ago ... and have hardly come up for air since -- dropping hundreds of thousands of dollars at clubs and tearing up the streets of Boston on parade day.

Speaking of that ... remember how the trophy took a beating from a rogue beer can out there? Thing looks all good now!

Here it is ... this is what Justin Turner's face looks like without his glorious red beard.

Drink it in.

The Los Angeles Dodgers star was grubbin' with his wife Kourtney Turner at Vivian’s Millennium Cafe in Studio City on Friday afternoon (that place is delicious, BTW) ... and he was basically unrecognizable.

It's kinda weird, right?

Of course, the Dodgers are still reeling from that World Series loss to the Boston Red Sox ... and maybe JT felt like it was time to change things up a bit.

Turner had toyed with the idea of losing his face-warmer last year -- but only if the Dodgers won the World Series. They didn't, so he didn't.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers are already putting the pieces together to try and make another run in 2019 -- resigning Clayton Kershaw to a 3-year $93 million contract.

Plus, L.A. also resigned David Freese -- and they're working on deals with pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu and Yasmani Grandal.

So ... how long will it take for Turner to grow his beard back?

When the Boston Red Sox hit an L.A. nightclub to celebrate their World Series title, they bought 169 bottles of champagne and left a $195,000 tip, TMZ Sports has confirmed.

As we previously reported, the Sox hit up the Sunday party at Nightingale Plaza thrown by Made Nightlife where star players like Mookie Betts, Steve Pearce and J.D. Martinez turned it all the way up to celebrate beating the Dodgers.

We knew the total bill was around $300,000 -- but now we've seen the itemized receipt and confirmed it's legit.

The rundown ...

48 bottles of Dom. 43 bottles of Ace of Spades. 60 bottles of Moet. 5 bottles of Veuve. 12 bottles of Perrier-Jouet. And, a bottle of Cristal for good measure.

On top of that, the guys also got bottles of Don Julio, Belvedere vodka, 11 bottles of Jameson and 17 bottles of Jack Daniels.

All of the booze plus the tax and other fees added up to around $300k. The tip was around $195k ... totaling an even $500,000 final bill.

PARTY FOUL!!!

The Boston Red Sox World Series celebration just took a major hit at the championship parade on Wednesday ... after a rogue beer took out part of the Commissioner's Trophy!!

Boston fans let the beers fly through the air at the team's World Series parade ... and players caught and CHUGGED them.

But, one fan missed their target and hit the championship hardware right in one of the flags ... denting it pretty badly. The trophy was riding with Mookie Betts at the time.

That's not all ... one fan threw an open beer at manager Alex Cora ... and the dude was clearly PISSED, stopping his duck boat to point out the potential culprit.

One man was arrested and charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, minor in possession of alcohol and disorderly conduct after throwing an unopened beer can at a boat for the hit on Cora.

Overall, there were 6 total arrests during the parade.

It wasn't all bad for the Sox, tho ... guys like Blake Swihart, Matt Barnes, Craig Kimbrel and Rick Porcello were able to snag cans out of mid-air without incident ... and you better believe they didn't let them go to waste.

This ain't nothin' new for fans in New England -- Rob Gronkowski famously did the same thing (while wearing a Minions hat) when the Patriots won it all in 2015.

What else would you expect from the world champs??

Originally Published -- 7:06 AM PDT

What's better than one crazy $300,000 World Series party?? TWO OF 'EM!!!!

The Boston Red Sox know first hand ... 'cause after going through $300k worth of booze on Sunday night after winning the 'ship in L.A. -- they did it again in Boston!

TMZ Sports has the vid ... J.D. Martinez, Mookie Betts and others turned ALL THE WAY UP at Icon Nightclub -- tearing through champagne bottles like it was the Dodgers' pitching staff.

We're told the Sox had massive 15-liter bottles of Luc Belaire Luxe (which they happily shared with the crowd) ... and OVER 40 CASES OF THE BUBBLY!!!

Of course ... they ruined a famous DJ's laptop with champagne over the weekend -- but it appears computers were safe Tuesday ... maybe.

The Boston Red Sox better head over to Best Buy immediately ... because a huge celebrity DJ says their post-game champagne celebration completely ruined his laptop ... and he wants another one.

The DJ's name is Dre Sinatra, a man who along with guys like DJ Franzen, absolutely RUN the club scene on the West Coast and in Vegas, and go out on tour with big acts like Ty Dolla $ign.

Sinatra -- a die-hard Dodgers fan -- happened to be in the booth the night the Red Sox celebrated their World Series victory at Nightengale Plaza in L.A., and says things got super wild...

Maybe too wild.

"They started spraying champagne, and like it gets on my laptop and one thing about me, I'm like a chill person but once you mess up my laptop it's like a whole different person."

Dre says he stopped the music and warned the players ... and, after that not only did the team send him 3 bottles and let him spray them back but they made another -- more important -- promise to buy him a BRAND NEW LAPTOP.

BTW, we're told the Sox players dropped a combined $300,000 during the party!!!

Despite the drenched hard drive, Dre says it's all love for the Sox -- as long as he gets a new computer -- but says the Boston love stops with the Red Sox.

Boston Red Sox pitcher Heath Hembree has already made up his mind -- he WILL be visiting the White House with the team ... telling TMZ Sports, "Hell yeah! I f*ck with Trump!"

Heath was leaving Nightingale nightclub after the Red Sox won Game 5 of the World Series -- and he was in a great mood.

Though it's interesting, when people were asking him questions about baseball, he went silent -- only talking about President Trump.

When asked what he liked about Trump, the 29-year-old South Carolina native told us, "Everything!"

Trump himself commented on the World Series this weekend -- taking to Twitter to rip Dodgers manager Dave Roberts for making a pitching change in Game 4 that ultimately led to a Dodgers loss.

Trump has yet to tweet a congratulatory message to the Red Sox.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred previously said he expects the winning team to visit Trump -- despite the fact Sox manager Alex Cora publicly criticized the President just last month.

The Boston Red Sox took their World Series celebration from Dodgers Stadium to the L.A. nightclub scene -- where MVP Steve Pearce was confronted and cussed out right on the street.

First off, Pearce couldn't have been nicer to fans and media -- he shook hands, he signed autographs and he was talking with the paparazzi.

But, one shirtless a-hole confronted Pearce and started screaming at the guy, "F** the Red Sox n***a. What the f*ck?!"

Pearce got into his car without even acknowledging the heckler -- but the shirtless guy continued to drop f-bombs until security came and intervened.

That wasn't all ...

Another stupid heckler confronted pitchers Matt Barnes and Brandon Workman on the way out of the nightclub and started hurling insults -- calling them "dicks" and insulting their hairlines.

Props to the Red Sox players for ignoring these guys.