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For a lifelong Dodgers fan and longtime Mexican American, the crowning moment of the World Series did not occur during the tense finale on Saturday, when her team pulled off multiple death-defying comeback act after another and then winning in overtime over the Toronto Blue Jays.

It came in the previous game, when two supporting players, the Puerto Rican player and the Venezuelan infielder, executed a electrifying, game-winning play that simultaneously challenged numerous negative misconceptions touted about Hispanic people in recent decades.

The moment in itself was stunning: Hernández raced in from the outfield to catch a ball he initially misjudged in the bright lights, then fired it to the infield to secure another, decisive play. the second baseman, at second base, caught the ball moments before a runner barreled into him, knocking him backwards.

This was not merely a remarkable sporting moment, perhaps the key turn in momentum in the team's direction after appearing for much of the series like the weaker team. To her, it was thrilling, on multiple levels, a much-required uplift for the community and for Los Angeles after months of enforcement actions, security forces monitoring the streets, and a steady drumbeat of criticism from official sources.

"The players presented this alternative story," said Molina. "Everyone saw Latinos showing an infectious pride and joy in what they do, being key figures on the team, exhibiting a different kind of masculinity. They're energetic, they're yelling, they're taking off their shirts."

"This represented such a juxtaposition with what we observe on the news – enforcement actions, Latinos detained and pursued. It is so easy to be disheartened right now."

Not that it's entirely straightforward to be a team supporter nowadays – for her or for the legions of other Latinos who attend faithfully to matches and occupy as many as half of the stadium's fifty thousand spots each time.

A Mixed Relationship with the Organization

When aggressive immigration raids began in Los Angeles in early June, and national guard troops were sent into the city to react to ensuing protests, two of the city's sports clubs quickly released messages of solidarity with immigrant families – while the baseball team.

The team president stated the Dodgers want to stay away of political issues – a stance colored, perhaps, by the reality that a significant minority of the supporters, including some Hispanic fans, are supporters of certain political figures. Under considerable public pressure, the organization subsequently committed $one million in support for families directly impacted by the operations but made no official condemnation of the administration.

Official Event and Historical Heritage

Three months before, the organization did not hesitate in accepting an offer to mark their previous championship victory at the White House – a move that local writers labeled as "disappointing … weak … and hypocritical", given the Dodgers' boast in having been the first major league team to break the color barrier in the 1940s and the frequent invocations of that legacy and the values it embodies by executives and present and past players. A number of players such as the coach had expressed reluctance to go to the event during the initial period but then reconsidered or gave in to demands from team management.

Business Control and Fan Dilemmas

An additional issue for fans is that the Dodgers are controlled by a large investment group, Guggenheim Partners, whose investments, as per media reports and its own published balance sheets, involve a share in a private prison corporation that runs detention centers. Guggenheim's executives has said repeatedly that it wants to remain neutral of political matters, but its critics say the silence – and the financial stake – are their own type of compliance to current policies.

These factors contribute to significant conflicted emotions among Latino fans in particular – feelings that surfaced even in the euphoria of this year's hard-won championship victory and the ensuing outpouring of Dodgers pride across Los Angeles.

"Can one to root for the Dodgers?" area columnist one observer agonized at the start of the playoffs in an thoughtful essay ruminating on "Dodger blue in our veins, but uncertainty in our hearts". He was unable to ultimately bring himself to view the championship, but he still felt deeply, to the point that he decided his personal boycott must have given the team the fortune it required to succeed.

Separating the Team from the Management

Many fans who have similar reservations seem to have decided that they can continue to back the players and its lineup of international stars, including the Asian superstar Shohei Ohtani, while expressing disdain on the team's corporate leadership. At no place was this more evident than at the championship parade at the home venue on Monday, when the capacity crowd cheered in approval of the manager and his players but booed the team president and the chief executive of the ownership group.

"The executives in suits do not get to take our players from us," the fan said. "We've been with the team for more time than they have."

Historical Background and Neighborhood Effect

The problem, however, goes further than just the organization's present proprietors. The deal that moved the former franchise to Los Angeles in the 1950s involved the city razing three low-income Hispanic neighborhoods on a elevated area above downtown and then transferring the property to the organization for a small part of its market value. A track on a mid-2000s album that documents the events has an impoverished parking attendant at the stadium revealing that the house he lost to eviction is now a part of the field.

Gustavo Arellano, perhaps the region's most influential Latino writer and media personality, sees a darker side to the long, problematic relationship between the franchise and its fanbase. He calls the team the popular snack of baseball, "a corporate entity with an excessive, even unhealthy following by too many Latinos" that has been exploiting its supporters for decades.

"They have put one arm around Hispanic followers while picking their pockets with the other hand for so much time because they have been able to avoid consequences," the writer wrote over the warmer months, when calls to avoid the organization over its lack of reaction to the enforcement actions were contradicted by the awkward fact that turnout at matches did not dip, even at the height of the demonstrations when downtown LA was under to a evening curfew.

International Stars and Community Bonds

Distinguishing the team from its corporate owners is not a simple matter, {