Baseball-Spirits high, confidence higher as Dodgers win home opener

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles Dodgers fans returned to Dodger Stadium on Thursday still celebrating their World Series triumph and brimming with confidence at the prospects of back-to-back titles.

The Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in a thrilling five-game Fall Classic in October and are a perfect 3-0 this season after a seventh-inning home run by Shohei Ohtani helped power them past the visiting Detroit Tigers 5-4.

The Dodgers swept the Chicago Cubs in a two-game series in Tokyo last week to kick off the 162-game regular season.

Rapper Ice Cube rolled onto the field through the center field fence in a lowrider painted Dodger blue to deliver the championship trophy to the team before Thursday's home opener.

Dodger great Kirk Gibson then threw out the ceremonial first pitch to World Series MVP Freddie Freeman, whose walk-off home run in Game One against the Yankees mirrored Gibson's own heroics in the 1988 series.

Even the weather cooperated as morning clouds gave way to bright sunshine at Chavez Ravine before the game, adding to the upbeat atmosphere among the fans.

"I have all the confidence in the world we'll win it again this year," said Ole Christensen, who held his 10-month-old daughter as she sucked on a Dodgers pacifier.

"I say we get another one, two, three, four. With this team, the sky's the limit."

Brenda Gomez said she had "no doubt" the team would be parading through Los Angeles again come November given the moves the front office made during the offseason to resign key players and bolster its pitching staff.

"I know a lot of money was spent but it's okay, quality costs," she said.

"So we're good, we're confident."

Rudy Marquez said he too had no problem with the spending, which included signing Thursday's starter Blake Snell to a five-year, $182 million deal.

"We're good with buying $25 beers to win another championship," he said with a smile.

The Dodgers' championship last season was the franchise's eighth. They also won the title in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

The team will receive their championship rings prior to Friday's game against the Tigers.

(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Rutherford)