• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

LA Sports Today

Los Angeles Sports News continuously updated

  • Football
    • Chargers
    • Rams
    • Wildcats
  • Baseball
    • Angels
    • Dodgers
  • Basketball
    • Clippers
    • Lakers
    • Sparks
  • Hockey
    • Ducks
    • Kings
  • Soccer
    • Angel City FC
    • Galaxy
    • Galaxy 2
    • LA FC
    • Orange County FC
  • College
    • UCLA
    • USC

Dodgers toasting small moments has become big part of team culture

July 11, 2025 by Los Angeles Daily News

The ritual after big victories is long-standing and familiar. It calls for beer and champagne.

But the Dodgers have created a tradition of their own for the small victories that come along the way – and it calls for tequila.

For two years now, each time the Dodgers have won a series – something they had done for seven consecutive series before their current six-game losing streak put the tequila on ice – the players gather in the clubhouse, infielder Miguel Rojas recaps the highlights of the series, picks a series MVP and the players down shots of tequila (apple juice for any non-drinkers).

The ritual ends with Rojas handing his phone to the series MVP, who takes a selfie with all of his teammates behind him. Rojas collects the photos and shares them in a players-only group chat.

“At the end of the day, it’s baseball and it’s our job. But it’s just a game,” pitcher Dustin May said of the tradition. “Being able to take the little positives and have a little team talk after, put some of the exciting moments of the series on blast – it’s cool.”

The Dodgers are the eighth team that relief pitcher Anthony Banda has played for during a peripatetic major-league career that has allowed him to sample an assortment of team cultures.

“I was expecting something because any time a team wins a series there’s some kind of celebration,” the reliever said of joining the Dodgers early last season. “The drinking aspect of it was new because I don’t think I’d been on a team that did shots. It was more of a quick ‘Hoorah’ and then move on.

“What I like most about it is how Miggy Ro or whoever is leading the celebration will point out what was good, the highlights of the series. It seems like he’s very on point with a lot of it, because he never misses any type of deal. Like, he’ll talk about things like what Ben (Casparius) and Jack (Dreyer) did pitching out of the bullpen.”

The tradition’s origin story dates to May 2023 after the Dodgers swept the San Diego Padres in a three-game series at Dodger Stadium. They had taken two out of three in San Diego a week earlier, doubling their dose of revenge for the previous fall’s loss to the Padres in the playoffs.

Rojas and outfielders Jason Heyward and David Peralta were all new to the team that year and took note of how business-like the Dodgers were in the aftermath of a significant regular-season moment.

“We started talking. ‘These guys aren’t really celebrating,’” Rojas said. “We all felt like this team was all about business at the time and celebrating wins in the regular season would be too much for them.

“I feel like getting used to winning in the regular season was a thing for them.”

The three took their idea to the team’s established veterans – “the big guys – Mookie (Betts), Freddie (Freeman), Kersh (Clayton Kershaw), Will (Smith) and Barnesy (Austin Barnes), guys that had been here for a long time” – and pitched them on making “a little bit of a culture change.”

The tradition took hold and now includes other individual achievements that might otherwise get overlooked. The team toasts players who reach 10 years’ service time (a significant MLB benchmark that brings pension and other benefits), rookies who record their first win or hit and veterans who reach milestones – for example, Clayton Kershaw’s 3,000th strikeout and Teoscar Hernandez’s 1,000th career hit recently.

“It’s just a really cool way to recognize the good things that are happening during the course of the season,” Freddie Freeman said. “The ebbs and flows of the season – you’ll go through some rough times and then all of a sudden you win eight series in a row and you’re doing a lot of tequila shots.

“It’s more in our group. It’s not about anyone else. It’s just showing appreciation for one another.”

Both Rojas and Heyward are tequila drinkers and settled on a Clase Azul reposado tequila that comes in a hand-painted, decorative bottle. Third baseman Max Muncy foots the bill for the liquor (which can cost as much as $150 a bottle) and someone from the clubhouse staff is responsible for making sure the supply is always on hand. They upgraded the tequila for each playoff series victory on the way to the World Series title last year.

“The bottle kind of looks like a microphone because it’s got the little cup,” Rojas said. “So I talk about what happened during that series – maybe a guy hit a homer or moved a guy over. It doesn’t have to be big things. It could be the bullpen guys or whatever. Then we always take a selfie afterwards that we put in our group chat and we save it.

“Last year when we won the World Series I put the pictures together and I sent them to the guys – a lot of guys in that picture are without clothes on so it’s private. But maybe 50 years from now you’re going to look at your phone and you’re going to have all these pictures from an amazing 2024. We’re probably going to have a couple Hall of Famers here, so we’re going to have a couple pictures with them. I think it’s a pretty good thing to have.”

Banda said he finds himself flipping through the photos at night sometimes, smiling at the different faces. One of those future Hall of Famers, Freeman, acknowledged that the expectations that come with playing for the Dodgers can lead to taking things for granted at times.

“You can get into that habit. When I came over, that’s the way it was,” he said. “That’s the beauty of this game. New guys come in and you talk about it and you see how things are going and it’s ‘Oh, I’ve got this idea. Why don’t we try this?’ and the next thing you know everyone loves it.

“Every day we get up and we’re trying to get ready for that game and trying to win that game and you go to bed and you get up and do it again over and over. When you throw in a little wrinkle – hey, wait, we just won a series and this guy did this and that guy did that. I think it’s been really cool.”

Dodgers relief pitcher Anthony Banda, left, and infielder Miguel Rojas celebrate after a victory over the San Francisco Giants last month at Dodger Stadium. Rojas helped start the team's tradition of toasting any series win with clubhouse tequila shots, and Banda says it has created memories they will have forever. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Anthony Banda (43) and second baseman Miguel Rojas, right, celebrate after the Dodgers defeat the Giants in a baseball game in Los Angeles, Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)

Related Articles


  • The Audible: On the Lakers’ and Clippers’ moves and baseball’s trade deadline


  • Dodgers blow lead in 9th as losing streak reaches 6 games


  • Dodgers asking Tyler Glasnow to add dependability to his game


  • Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw calls Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski ‘special’


  • Dodgers overpowered by Brewers rookie, lose 5th game in a row

Filed Under: Dodgers

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Lakers fall to Cooper Flagg, Mavericks in Las Vegas Summer League opener
  • These are the top 9 storylines heading into the MLB Draft
  • Hot streak earns Angels’ Travis d’Arnaud more playing time
  • Kochanowicz looking to turn corner after tough first half
  • Lakers fall to Cooper Flagg, Mavericks in Las Vegas Summer League opener

Categories

Archives

Our Partners

All Sports

  • 247 Sports
  • Bleacher Report
  • LA Sports Hub
  • Los Angeles Daily News
  • Los Angeles Times
  • Los Angeles Sports Nation
  • Orange County Register
  • OurSports Central
  • The Sports Daily
  • The Sports Fan Journal
  • The Spun
  • USA Today

Baseball

  • MLB.com - Dodgers
  • MLB.com - Angels
  • Dodger Blue
  • Dodger Insider
  • Dodgers Nation
  • Dodgers Way
  • Halo Hangout
  • Halos Heaven
  • Last Word On Baseball - Angels
  • Last Word On Baseball - Dodgers
  • MLB Trade Rumors - Angels
  • MLB Trade Rumors - Dodgers
  • Think Blue LA
  • Think Blue PC
  • True Blue LA

Basketball

  • NBA.com - Clippers
  • NBA.com - Lakers
  • Amico Hoops - Clippers
  • Amico Hoops - Lakers
  • 213 Hoops
  • Clipperholics
  • Clips Nation
  • Forum Blue And Gold
  • High Post Hoops
  • Hoops Hype - Clippers
  • Hoops Hype - Lakers
  • Hoops Rumors - Clippers
  • Hoops Rumors - Lakers
  • Lake Show Life
  • Lakers Nation
  • Lakers Outsiders
  • Lakerholics.net
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball - Clippers
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball - Lakers
  • Pro Basketball Talk - Clippers
  • Pro Basketball Talk - Lakers
  • Real GM - Clippers
  • Real GM - Lakers
  • Silver Screen And Roll

Football

  • Los Angeles Chargers
  • Los Angeles Rams
  • Bolt Beat
  • Bolts From The Blue
  • Chargers Gab
  • Chargers Wire
  • Last Word On Pro Football - Chargers
  • Last Word On Pro Football - Rams
  • NFL Trade Rumors - Chargers
  • NFL Trade Rumors - Rams
  • Our Turf Football - Chargers
  • Our Turf Football - Rams
  • Pro Football Focus - Chargers
  • Pro Football Focus - Rams
  • Pro Football Rumors - Chargers
  • Pro Football Rumors - Rams
  • Pro Football Talk - Chargers
  • Pro Football Talk - Rams
  • Ramblin Fan
  • Rams Gab
  • Rams Nation
  • Rams Wire
  • Turf Show Times

Hockey

  • Anaheim Calling
  • Elite Prospects - Ducks
  • Elite Prospects - Kings
  • Jewels From The Crown
  • Last Word On Hockey - Ducks
  • Last Word On Hockey - Kings
  • My NHL Trade Rumors - Anaheim Ducks
  • My NHL Trade Rumors - LA Kings
  • Pro Hockey Rumors - Ducks
  • Pro Hockey Rumors - Kings
  • Pro Hockey Talk - Ducks
  • Pro Hockey Talk - Kings
  • Pucks Of A Feather
  • Rink Royalty
  • The Hockey Writers - Ducks
  • The Hockey Writers - Kings

Soccer

  • Angels On Parade
  • LAG Confidential
  • Last Word On Soccer - LA Galaxy
  • Last Word On Soccer - Los Angeles FC
  • MLS Multiplex

College

  • Bruins Nation
  • Busting Brackets
  • College Football News
  • College Sports Madness
  • Conquest Chronicles
  • Go Joe Bruin
  • Last Word On College Football - UCLA
  • Last Word On College Football - USC
  • Reign Of Troy
  • Saturday Blitz
  • Zags Blog

Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in