Chris Taylor walked back into Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night as a retiree, but the reception made it clear he still belongs to the place.
Only a few months into life after baseball, Taylor returned to receive his 2025 Los Angeles Dodgers World Series ring and take part in a pregame celebration from the franchise that defined most of his career. His wife, Mary, and their two sons were with him on the field for the moment, and former teammates were the ones presenting the ring.
“It’s great. It’s good to go through the clubhouse, see all the guys again, and excited to watch a baseball game with my family and just trying to soak it all in,” Taylor said of returning.
Taylor said retirement has him in “full-dad mode” with his family, but the emotions of the night still landed hard. He made it clear how much the Dodgers meant to him, and how much it meant that the organization would honor him this way.
“Over 90% of my career was in Dodger Blue. This is the place I call home,” said Taylor as he reflected on his MLB career.
“I’m always proud to be a Dodger, and this night, it means a lot to me that they would even do this for me. So I’m extremely humble.”
Taylor’s road to that moment started with the Seattle Mariners, who gave him his MLB debut in 2014. He stayed there into the 2016 season before being traded to the Dodgers in June 2016 for Zach Lee. What followed was the breakout that changed everything: Taylor took off in 2017 and became one of the most important pieces in the Dodgers’ run of success.
That stretch included two World Series titles with Los Angeles, along with a third championship that came months after he had already been released by the club. Taylor said the 2020 World Series win sits near the top of his memories, though the night at Dodger Stadium also brought another moment back into focus.
He was reminded of his walk-off home run against the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2021 National League Wild Card Game, and Taylor didn’t hesitate to call it one of the biggest plays of his career.
“Yeah, I mean that was definitely one of my biggest individual moments I’ve had,” Taylor said. “The reason that moment meant so much to me is I had been slumping for like three months prior to that, and I was really, really grinding. To come through for my team and move on to the next round of the playoffs and end up having a good postseason after that, that was special.”
Taylor finished his career in the Los Angeles Angels organization, playing for their Triple-A Salt Lake affiliate. He said he will “always” miss baseball, but he’s comfortable with the decision to step away.
Retirement has also given him more time to focus on life at home and on the work of the CT3 Foundation, which he plans to keep pushing forward.
“That’s definitely something we wanted to continue beyond my playing career,” Taylor said. “And honestly, now that I’m done playing, we should have even more time to pour into that.”
Over 10 seasons with the Dodgers, Taylor played in 1,007 games and hit .250/.330/.431 with 184 doubles, 30 triples, 108 home runs, 423 RBI and 480 runs scored. He became the face of the team’s versatility, covering second base, shortstop, third base and all three outfield positions.
By finishing the 2025 season with the Angels, Taylor reached 10 years of Major League service time.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts made it clear what Taylor meant to the club.
“Chris was a very good Dodger. He was very fun to manage, easy to manage, baseball player, hard-nosed,” Roberts said.
“Does a lot of stuff off the field with this charity with him and his wife, Mary. So to get him back here, seeing CT3 would be great.
“Hopefully, we can get him to say a few words. But man, this guy had a lot of big hits for the Dodgers. Huge hits.”
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