Shaquille O’Neal loves Los Angeles. The feeling is apparently mutual. The Dodgers gave the Lakers legend his own bobblehead night Saturday, and Shaq returned the favor with a video message that was pure vintage Shaq.
“It’s time for Dodgers baseball! Can you dig it? Can you dig it? Go Dodgers,” O’Neal said in a clip the team posted on social media. If you’ve ever heard Shaq say those three words, you know exactly how it sounded. The bobblehead itself showed the Big Diesel wearing a Dodgers jersey, a nod to his decades-long connection to the city.
The Lakers Legend Gets a Baseball Tribute
Shaq won three NBA titles with the Lakers and another with the Miami Heat. He’s now a TV personality and occasional actor. But in L.A., he’s still royalty. The Dodgers honored him Saturday for his years of dominance with the purple and gold, and fans who showed up wearing Lakers gear could snag the bobblehead for free.
The gesture made sense. The Dodgers are on a championship run of their own, having won back-to-back World Series titles. They entered Saturday with a 49-28 record, leading the NL West. Two winning franchises, one city. It’s a nice fit.
The Game Didn’t Go Shaq’s Way
But the bobblehead magic couldn’t carry over to the field. The Dodgers lost 3-2 to the Baltimore Orioles. A tight game that came down to the ninth inning. L.A. had chances. They just couldn’t cash in.
“What I can take from this game is the willingness to continue to fight throughout the whole game, have an opportunity to tie the game right there in the ninth with really good swings,” infielder Miguel Rojas said after the loss, per MLB.com. “We got a couple other good swings in the seventh and the eighth, but the ball couldn’t find the grass and we couldn’t score any runs. But yeah, credit to Rogers today. He pitched a good game.”
Orioles pitcher Trevor Rogers held the Dodgers to two runs over six innings. Baltimore’s bullpen did the rest. It was a quiet night at the plate for a team that usually rakes.
The Dodgers and Orioles finish the series Sunday. Shaq probably won’t be there, but his bobblehead will have a home on a lot of shelves.
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