BOSTON – The Dodgers returned to Los Angeles early Thursday morning as World Series champions. Without the help of the New England Patriots, they wouldn’t have gotten home.

The Dodgers spent much of their Wednesday night partying in the Bronx after staging a thrilling comeback in Game 5 of the Fall Classic against the New York Yankees. Los Angeles overcame a 5-0 deficit in the fifth inning and won 7-6 to win the series in five games.

Once they were done popping champagne and celebrating at Yankee Stadium, the Dodgers headed to the airport for their cross-country trip home. They received an endorsement from the six-time Super Bowl champions as they flew home from New York on one of the Patriots team’s two planes.

At least one of the AirKrafts got to fly a championship trophy this year. Considering the Patriots are 2-6 this season, it’s likely the team won’t be heading to Super Bowl LVIX in New Orleans in February.

Why did the Dodgers use the Patriots’ team plane?

The answer is kind of simple and boring. The Dodgers have reached out to the company that charters the Patriots’ planes when they are not being used by the team, the Patriots’ public relations team told WBZ-TV.

So it had nothing to do with the Boston-New York rivalry or with the Patriots lending a hand to a team that beat the Yankees. The Patriots didn’t need the plane this week, even though the team has a road game in Tennessee this weekend.

The Patriots team plane isn’t just for the Patriots

Obviously, the Patriots’ team planes aren’t just for transporting the Patriots to and from games. Robert Kraft owns two 767s, and it’s not uncommon for the planes (sorry, AirKrafts) to be used for purposes other than transporting players to a game. Kraft has used the aircraft for many good causes since purchasing them in 2017.

In 2018, one of the planes was used to transport injured Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students and families of school shooting victims to the March For Our Lives event in Washington, DC Kraft left a Patriots cap on each seat and a letter expressing the team’s support for the movement.

In 2020, a Patriots plane flew to Shenzhen, China to pick it up Bring 1.2 million N95 masks back to Massachusetts during the coronavirus pandemic.