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In the eyes of Natalia Molina and longtime Mexican American, the crowning moment of the World Series did not happen during the nail-biting final game last Saturday, when her squad pulled off multiple death-defying escape feat after another and then winning in overtime against the Toronto Blue Jays.

It happened in the previous game, when two second-tier athletes, the Puerto Rican player and Miguel Rojas, executed a electrifying, decisive sequence that simultaneously upended numerous negative misconceptions promoted about Latinos in recent years.

The moment itself was stunning: the outfielder charged in from left field to snag a ball he at first lost in the bright lights, then fired it to the infield to record another, decisive out. the second baseman, at second base, caught the ball moments before a opposing player collided with him, knocking him backwards.

This wasn't just a remarkable sporting achievement, perhaps the decisive shift in the series in the Dodgers' direction after appearing for much of the series like the weaker side. For Molina, it was exhilarating, politically and culturally, a badly needed uplift for the community and for the city after months of enforcement actions, troops monitoring the neighborhoods, and a constant drumbeat of criticism from national leaders.

"Kike and Miggy presented this alternative story," explained Molina. "Everyone saw Latinos showing an infectious pride and joy in what they do, acting as key figures on the team, having a distinct kind of confidence. They are bombastic, they're cheering, they're taking off their shirts."

"It was such a contrast with what we observe on the news – enforcement actions, Latinos detained and chased down. It is so simple to be disheartened right now."

However, it's exactly straightforward to be a team supporter these days – for her or for the many of other fans who attend faithfully to home games and fill up as many as half of the venue's fifty thousand spots per game.

The Mixed Relationship with the Team

After aggressive immigration raids started in the city in June, and national guard troops were deployed into the city to react to resulting demonstrations, two of the city's soccer clubs promptly issued statements of support with immigrant families – but not the Dodgers.

Management has said the organization prefer to steer clear of politics – a stance colored, possibly, by the reality that a sizable portion of the supporters, including Latinos, are followers of current political figures. Under considerable public pressure, the organization subsequently committed $one million in aid for individuals personally impacted by the raids but issued no public criticism of the administration.

Official Visit and Historical Heritage

Months earlier, the team did not delay in agreeing to an offer to celebrate their previous championship win at the official residence – a move that sports writers labeled as "disappointing … weak … and hypocritical", considering the Dodgers' boast in having been the first major league franchise to break the color barrier in the 1940s and the frequent references of that legacy and the principles it represents by executives and current and former athletes. A number of players including the manager had expressed reluctance to go to the White House during the initial period but then changed their minds or gave in to pressure from the organization.

Corporate Control and Supporter Conflicts

An additional complication 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 financial documents, include a stake in a detention corporation that runs detention facilities. The group's leadership has stated many times that it aims to remain neutral of politics, but its critics say the silence – and the financial stake – are their own form of acquiescence to current policies.

All of that add up to significant mixed feelings among Latino fans in especial – feelings that surfaced even in the euphoria of this year's hard-won championship triumph and the ensuing explosion of Dodgers support across the city.

"Is it okay to support the Dodgers?" area writer one observer reflected at the start of the postseason in an thoughtful essay pondering on "team loyalty in our blood, but uncertainty in our hearts". Galindo couldn't finally bring himself to view the World Series, but he still cared deeply, to the extent that he believed his personal protest must have given the team the fortune it needed to succeed.

Separating the Team from the Owners

Numerous supporters who share similar reservations seem to have decided that they can continue to support the players and its lineup of global stars, featuring the Asian megastar a key player, while expressing disdain on the organization's business overlords. At no place was this more evident than at the victory celebration at Dodger Stadium on the following day, when the capacity crowd cheered in support of the manager and his athletes but booed the executive and the top official of the ownership group.

"The executives in suits do not get to take our players from us," Molina said. "We have been with the Dodgers longer than they have."

Historical Background and Neighborhood Effect

The issue, though, goes further than just the team's current proprietors. The agreement that moved the former franchise to Los Angeles in the 1950s required the city razing three working-class Hispanic communities on a hill overlooking the city center and then transferring the land to the team for a fraction of its actual worth. A song on a 2005 record that chronicles the events has an impoverished worker at the stadium revealing that the house he lost to eviction is now a part of the field.

A prominent commentator, possibly southern California most influential Mexican American columnist and broadcaster, sees a darker side to the lengthy, problematic dynamic between the team and its audience. He calls the Dodgers the popular snack of baseball, "a business organization with an undue, even harmful following by too many Latinos" that has been exploiting its supporters for decades.

"They have put one arm around Latino fans while profiting from them with the other for so long because they have been able to avoid consequences," the writer noted over the warmer months, when calls to avoid the team over its lack of reaction to the enforcement actions were upended by the awkward reality that attendance at matches remained steady, even at the peak of the protests when downtown LA was subject to a evening curfew.

Global Stars and Fan Bonds

Separating the team from its business leadership is not a easy matter, {