Fan-to-fan kindness: How one Dodgers fan got a free trip to World Series

The faith of the Dodgers faithful was waning. The promise of the Fall Classic was on the verge of vanishing into an autumn of despair.

As so many of us do in trying times, Scott Warner took to Twitter. He had not lost hope, and so he made a promise of his own: If the Dodgers win the three consecutive games necessary to win the National League Championship Series, then he would invite you and a friend to the World Series as his guest.

“Just to put some good vibes out there,” Warner said.

He wanted fans to keep hope alive, and with it the idea that they could win a free trip to the World Series. Warner is a lifelong Dodgers fan and the founder of Gigg, a Utah-based company that helps companies engage with customers on social media.

So he engaged with Dodgers fans, and anyone who retweeted was eligible to win. He got more than 8,000 retweets. After the Dodgers won the NLCS on Sunday night, Warner went live on the Dodger Yard fan site, picking the winner out of a hat (a Dodgers hat, of course).

The winner was Erich Contreras, who lives in Chino Hills. Contreras had to convince at least one member of his family that this was not some online hoax.

“My grandma was like, ‘It’s a scam,’ ” Contreras said.

He invited his father, also a lifelong Dodgers fan, to join him in Texas and cheer on their team. Contreras recently graduated from Diamond Ranch High, but the coronavirus robbed him of pomp and circumstance. For him, the year 2020 just took a happy turn.

“With the pandemic,” he said, “I guess this is my Grad Night.”