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For a lifelong Dodgers fan and third-generation Mexican American, the crowning moment of the World Series did not happen during the nail-biting final game on Saturday, when her squad executed one death-defying escape act after another and then prevailing in extra innings over the opposing team.

It came a game earlier, when two second-tier players, the Puerto Rican player and the Venezuelan infielder, executed a electrifying, decisive play that simultaneously upended many negative misconceptions promoted about Latinos in the past years.

The play in itself was stunning: Hernández charged in from left field to catch a ball he initially lost in the stadium lights, then threw it to the infield to secure another, game-winning out. Rojas, positioned nearby, caught the ball moments before a runner collided with him, sending him to the ground.

This was not just a remarkable athletic achievement, possibly the key turn in the series in the Dodgers' direction after looking for much of the series like the weaker side. For Molina, it was exhilarating, on multiple levels, a much-required morale boost for the community and for the city after a period of enforcement actions, troops patrolling the streets, and a constant drumbeat of criticism from official sources.

"The players presented this alternative story," said Molina. "The world witnessed Latinos showing an infectious pride and joy in what they do, acting as leaders on the team, having a different kind of masculinity. They're energetic, they're yelling, they're removing their shirts."

"It was such a juxtaposition with what we see on the news – enforcement actions, Latinos detained and chased down. It is so easy to be demoralized these days."

Not that it's exactly simple to be a Dodgers supporter these days – for Molina or for the many of other Latinos who show up regularly to matches and occupy as many as 50% of the stadium's 50,000 spots each time.

A Mixed Connection with the Organization

When intensified immigration raids began in Los Angeles in June, and military units were sent into the area to respond to ensuing protests, two of the local soccer teams promptly released statements of solidarity with affected communities – but not the baseball team.

Management has said the Dodgers want to stay away of political issues – a stance influenced, perhaps, by the fact that a significant portion of the supporters, even Latinos, are supporters of current leaders. Under considerable external demands, the organization later committed $1m in aid for families directly impacted by the raids but made no official criticism of the government.

White House Visit and Historical Legacy

Three months earlier, the organization did not delay in accepting an invitation to celebrate their 2024 championship victory at the White House – a move that local columnists described as "pathetic … spineless … and contradictory", considering the Dodgers' pride in having been the first major league team to break the color barrier in the 1940s and the frequent references of that history and the principles it embodies by officials and current and former players. Several players including the coach had voiced reluctance to travel to the event during the initial period but either reconsidered or succumbed to pressure from team management.

Business Ownership and Supporter Dilemmas

A further issue for supporters is that the Dodgers are owned by a large investment group, Guggenheim Partners, whose equity holdings, as per sources and its own published balance sheets, involve a stake in a detention company that runs enforcement facilities. Guggenheim's executives has stated many times that it aims to remain neutral of political matters, but its detractors say the inaction – and the investment – are their own form of acquiescence to certain agendas.

All of that add up to considerable mixed feelings among Latino fans in especial – sentiments that emerged even in the excitement of this season's hard-fought championship triumph and the ensuing explosion of team pride across Los Angeles.

"Is it okay to root for the team?" local columnist one observer reflected at the start of the postseason in an elegant article pondering on "team loyalty in our blood, but uncertainty in our minds". He was unable to finally bring himself to view the World Series, but he still cared strongly, to the point that he believed his personal boycott must have brought the squad the fortune it needed to win.

Distinguishing the Players from the Management

Many fans who have similar misgivings appear to have concluded that they can continue to back the team and its lineup of international stars, featuring the Asian megastar a key player, while expressing disdain on the team's business leadership. Nowhere was this more evident than at the championship parade at Dodger Stadium on Monday, when the capacity crowd cheered in approval of the coach and his players but booed the executive and the top official of the ownership group.

"These men in formal attire do not get to claim our boys in blue from us," Molina said. "We have been with the team for more time than they have."

Historical Background and Community Impact

The issue, though, goes further than only the organization's current proprietors. The deal that moved the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles in the late 1950s involved the municipality razing three working-class Hispanic communities on a hill above downtown and then selling the property to the organization for a small part of its actual worth. A track on a mid-2000s album that chronicles the events has an impoverished parking attendant at the venue stating that the home he lost to removal is now a part of the field.

A prominent commentator, perhaps southern California most influential Latino writer and broadcaster, sees a more troubling side to the long, problematic relationship between the team and its audience. He describes the Dodgers the Flamin' Hot Cheetos of baseball, "a business organization with an excessive, even unhealthy devotion by numerous Latinos" that has been exploiting its supporters for years.

"They have put one arm around Hispanic fans while profiting from them with the other for so long because they have been able to avoid consequences," the writer wrote over the summer, when calls to avoid the team over its lack of reaction to the enforcement actions were upended by the uncomfortable fact that turnout at matches did not dip, even at the height of the demonstrations when downtown LA was subject to a nightly restriction.

Global Players and Fan Connections

Separating the team from its corporate owners is not a easy matter, {