When you take in a game at Dodger Stadium, one of the people most responsible for keeping the crowd engaged and setting the vibe is host Natalia Perez.
Perez recently sat down with Dodgers Nation’s Noel Sanchez for an exclusive interview in which she reveals what keeps bringing her back to Chavez Ravine each year.
Natalia Perez’s favorite game at Dodger Stadium
Asked about her favorite Dodgers game that she’s hosted, Perez had an obvious answer: first baseman Freddie Freeman‘s walk off grand slam in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series.
“Obviously Freddie Freeman’s World Series, just because that’s special,” she told Noel. “That’s always going to stick out in my mind, but there’s just too many.”
Perez added that oftentimes, though, her favorite games have little to do with what’s happening on the field.
Instead, it’s when she shares a special moment with a fan.
“There’s been experiences where my favorite games, and not necessarily I will remember all of them, but it’s when I get a moment with a fan who gets to win something or it’s their first time on DodgerVision and they’re so excited and I walk away going, ‘Man, that guy, that guy was so cool. He was so excited,'” she said.
Natalia Perez reveals her favorite segment
Perez said her favorite segment she used to do was one for the kids.
“We used to do Stolen Base Challenge a few years ago, that was my favorite because the kids were so happy,” she said. “They were so excited, and it takes a lot of courage to do that as little kids, and that was my favorite game to host, because then all of Dodger Stadium is cheering them on. A lot of those memories of Stolen Base Challenge, those are really big ones.”
That said, there’s one current segment Perez is a huge fan of.
“I always get excited when I get to do cap shuffle because it is a fan favorite,” she said. “I feel like you can always hear the crowds yelling the answers. People are really excited to do it. It’s a game that I know like the back of my own hand, so I don’t even have to think about doing it, so that’s always really exciting.”
Perez said she also enjoyed doing the flag in previous years, though now she jokingly said she’s “too tired” for that.
“It takes a lot of work to do that flag, but I think during the postseason getting to jump up on the dugouts is always really fun and exciting,” she said. “Trying to get fans pumped and excited and yell and just get that energy for playoff games, that’s always really fun too, but on a regular game, I’m gonna say it’s cap shuffle.”
Perez told Noel plenty of other inside details, so check out the full interview above!
