The Los Angeles Dodgers were right to go to the – Latest News
On Thursday, the Los Angeles Dodgers went to the White House to be honored by President Donald Trump for profitable their second consecutive World Series championship.
Good.
It was good for the Dodgers. It was good for Major League Baseball. And at a time when Americans appear more and more decided to type themselves into opposing political camps, it was good for the nation.
For the first time, the longstanding custom performed out in the newly revamped Rose Garden.
AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson
Trump shook palms with Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Miguel Rojas, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Will Klein and others, giving a particular call-out to Clayton Kershaw.
Trump singled out a play the place Smith’s foot got here off home plate for a break up second, and as a substitute of bluffing that he nonetheless had contact, he pulled it back and touched the plate earlier than it will have value the Dodgers the play.
The Dodgers, in flip, introduced Trump along with his own World Series championship ring and a Dodgers jersey bearing No. 47.
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Trump clearly did his homework.
He spent a good half of his remarks strolling by the Dodgers’ postseason, praising gamers and recounting some of its greatest moments. He recalled Ohtani’s extraordinary efficiency to clinch the National League pennant, when he pitched six scoreless innings whereas hitting three home runs.
Trump additionally talked about staying up till practically 3 a.m. watching Game 3 of the World Series, the 18-inning marathon in opposition to Toronto that Freddie Freeman lastly ended with a walk-off home run.
The Dodgers, in flip, introduced Trump along with his own World Series championship ring and a Dodgers jersey bearing No. 47. REUTERS
“This is a special moment, and I think especially because it’s the Dodgers,” Trump stated, praising the workforce as “unbelievable talents and leaders” earlier than concluding, “A job well done.”
Manager Dave Roberts spoke for the Dodgers.
Roberts talked about the gamers, coaches and employees who made consecutive championships doable, and how they “come together unselfishly.”
“I hope when you watch our guys play, you can be proud and say, ‘These guys do things the right way.’”
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There wasn’t a lot politics to any of it. Trump talked about baseball. Roberts talked about his gamers and profitable.
That’s precisely what it ought to have been.
We simply obtained one other reminder during the World Cup of what sports activities can do. Millions of Americans who disagree about practically all the pieces discovered one thing they might take pleasure in collectively.
Republicans and Democrats don’t have separate sections at Dodger Stadium. Nobody asks the man sitting subsequent to him how he voted earlier than celebrating a home run.
Trump clearly did his homework. AP Photo/Alex Brandon
For a few hours, politics can simply go away.
Which is why the Dodgers were right to settle for the invitation.
After profitable the 2020 World Series, the Dodgers went to President Joe Biden’s White House. After profitable in 2024, they went to President Trump’s. Yesterday, after profitable all of it again in 2025, they returned.
Different president. Same custom.
Yet activists pressured the Dodgers to decline this invitation, arguing that visiting Trump, significantly amid the bitter battle over immigration enforcement in Los Angeles, amounted to taking his aspect.
They have it backwards.
Going to the White House wasn’t a political assertion. Boycotting it will have been.
A championship workforce accepting recognition from the president isn’t endorsing him or his insurance policies. It is collaborating in an American civic custom.
Republicans and Democrats don’t have separate sections at Dodger Stadium. Nobody asks the man sitting subsequent to him how he voted earlier than celebrating a home run. REUTERS
That’s why there’s no contradiction between what I wrote about the Dodgers final month and what I’m writing as we speak.
I criticized the Dodgers then for permitting themselves to be pulled into the political battle over immigration enforcement. My argument was easy: Dodgers followers didn’t buy a ticket for politics.
The similar precept applies right here. Accepting recognition from the president after profitable the World Series is one thing else fully.
The White House doesn’t belong to one political celebration, and the president doesn’t signify solely the Americans who voted for him.
Dodgers gamers and followers span each political and cultural divide in Southern California.
But all of them bleed Dodger blue.
I’ve been one of them for many of my life. My mother and father took me and my brothers to video games in the Seventies. Today, I’m a season ticket holder who often makes the drive from Orange County to Chavez Ravine.
That’s one of the issues I’ve at all times beloved about baseball.
We don’t have to agree about all the pieces to share one thing.
Americans have change into far too keen to politicize all the pieces. Baseball doesn’t need to be one other casualty.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, Trump invited the Dodgers into the Oval Office, the place he stated he would current them with presidential cash.
But Roberts made clear that this workforce isn’t happy with two championships.
“We are going for a three-peat,” he stated.
If they pull that off, right here’s hoping President Trump might be welcoming the Dodgers back to the White House again subsequent 12 months.
Jon Fleischman, a longtime strategist in California politics and a lifelong baseball fan, writes at SoDoesItMatter.com.
