Along with using Spring Training to prepare for the regular season, the Los Angeles Dodgers have established a tradition of staging an annual ping pong tournament. Clayton Kershaw is regarded as the architect, as he also hosts the annual Ping Pong 4 Purpose along with his wife Ellen through their chartiy, Kershaw’s Challenge.
Teammates are paired through a random drawing that takes place at the outset of camp, and among the notable pairings this year were Yasiel Puig and Kenta Maeda, Joc Pederson and Dave Roberts, and Kershaw and Adrian Gonzalez.
Kershaw, an avid and competitive ping pong player, joked he would need to work on improving Gonzalez if the duo hoped to advance.
Less than two weeks after kicking off the tournament, the championship round was held Thursday morning in the Dodgers clubhouse at Camelback Ranch.
Acting as emcee, Kiké Hernandez first introduced the Brandon Beachy-Scott Van Slyke pairing, via a video provided by Gonzalez:
Ping pong Championship! @Brandon_Beachy & @ScottVanSlick #DodgersSt #PingPong pic.twitter.com/4i42njTXQs
— Adrian Gonzalez (@Adrian_ElTitan) March 10, 2016
Beachy and Van Slyke faced Chris Anderson and Justin Turner:
Vs @SeeAyy & @redturn2 #DodgersST #PingPong pic.twitter.com/0fvMBikV7R
— Adrian Gonzalez (@Adrian_ElTitan) March 10, 2016
The contested match ended with Beachy and Van Slyke taking home the 2016 crown:
Your 2016 Ping Pong Champions!! @Brandon_Beachy & @ScottVanSlick #DodgersST pic.twitter.com/r0ejF1LsMh
— Adrian Gonzalez (@Adrian_ElTitan) March 10, 2016
