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In the eyes of Natalia Molina and third-generation Mexican American, the most memorable moment of the World Series did not occur during the tense finale last Saturday, when her squad executed one death-defying escape act after another and then prevailing in extra innings over the opposing team.

It happened a game earlier, when two second-tier athletes, the Puerto Rican player and Miguel Rojas, pulled off a electrifying, game-winning play that at the same time upended many harmful misconceptions touted about Hispanic people in recent years.

The moment in itself was stunning: the outfielder raced in from the outfield to snag a ball he initially misjudged in the stadium lights, then threw it to second base to record another, game-winning play. Rojas, at second base, caught the ball just a split second before a runner collided with him, sending him to the ground.

This wasn't just a great athletic achievement, perhaps the decisive turn in the series in the team's direction after appearing for most of the games like the weaker side. To her, it was thrilling, politically and culturally, a much-required uplift for the community and for Los Angeles after months of enforcement actions, security forces monitoring the neighborhoods, and a constant drumbeat of criticism from national leaders.

"The players put forth this counter-narrative," said Molina. "The world saw Latinos showing an infectious enthusiasm in what they do, being key figures on the team, exhibiting a distinct kind of confidence. They are bombastic, they're yelling, they're removing their shirts."

"This represented such a juxtaposition with what we observe on the news – raids, Latinos thrown to the ground and chased down. It's so easy to be disheartened right now."

However, it's entirely simple to be a Dodgers fan these days – for her or for the legions of other fans who show up faithfully to matches and fill up as many as 50% of the venue's fifty thousand spots per game.

The Mixed Connection with the Organization

After aggressive enforcement operations began in the city in early June, and military units were deployed into the area to react to ensuing protests, two of the local soccer clubs promptly released messages of support with affected communities – while the baseball team.

Management stated the organization prefer to stay away of political issues – a stance colored, perhaps, by the reality that a sizable portion of the fans, even Latinos, are followers of certain political figures. After considerable public pressure, the organization subsequently committed $1m in aid for individuals directly impacted by the operations but made no official condemnation of the government.

White House Event and Past Heritage

Three months earlier, the organization did not delay in agreeing to an invitation to celebrate their previous World Series victory at the White House – a move that sports writers labeled as "disappointing … weak … and contradictory", given the Dodgers' boast in having been the pioneering major league franchise to end the racial segregation in the 1940s and the frequent invocations of that legacy and the principles it embodies by officials and current and former athletes. Several team members including the manager had expressed unwillingness to go to the White House during the initial period but either changed their minds or succumbed to pressure from the organization.

Business Control and Fan Dilemmas

A further complication for supporters is that the Dodgers are controlled by a corporate behemoth, Guggenheim Partners, whose investments, according to sources and its own published balance sheets, include a stake in a private prison corporation that runs enforcement facilities. Guggenheim's executives has said many times that it aims to remain neutral of politics, but its detractors say the inaction – and the financial stake – are their own form of acquiescence to current policies.

All of that contribute to considerable mixed feelings among Hispanic supporters in particular – sentiments that surfaced even in the euphoria of this year's hard-won World Series triumph and the following outpouring of Dodgers support across the city.

"Is it okay to support the Dodgers?" area columnist Erick Galindo reflected at the beginning of the playoffs in an thoughtful article pondering on "team loyalty in our blood, but doubt in our hearts". Galindo couldn't ultimately bring himself to watch the World Series, but he still felt strongly, to the point that he believed his personal protest must have given the squad the fortune it needed to succeed.

Separating the Team from the Owners

Numerous supporters who have similar reservations seem to have concluded that they can keep to support the team and its roster of international stars, including the Asian superstar Shohei Ohtani, while expressing disdain on the organization's corporate overlords. Nowhere was this more clear than at the championship parade at Dodger Stadium on the following day, when the capacity crowd cheered in support of the manager and his players but booed the team president and the chief executive of the ownership group.

"The executives in formal attire do not get to claim our boys in blue from us," Molina said. "We've been with the team longer than they have."

Historical Background and Neighborhood Impact

The issue, however, goes further than only the team's present owners. The deal that brought the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles in the 1950s required the municipality razing three working-class Hispanic neighborhoods on a hill above the city center and then selling the property to the team for a fraction of its actual worth. A track on a 2005 album that documents the story has an impoverished parking attendant at the venue revealing that the home he forfeited to eviction is now third base.

A prominent commentator, perhaps southern California most influential Latino columnist and broadcaster, sees a more troubling side to the long, problematic relationship between the franchise and its fanbase. He calls the Dodgers the Flamin' Hot Cheetos of baseball, "a corporate entity with an undue, even harmful following by too many Latinos" that has been shortchanging its supporters for years.

"They've put one arm around Hispanic followers while profiting from them with the other for so long because they have been able to get away with it," Arellano wrote over the summer, when demands to boycott the organization over its absence of response to the raids were upended by the awkward fact that turnout at home games remained steady, even at the height of the protests when downtown LA was subject to a evening restriction.

Global Players and Fan Connections

Separating the team from its business leadership is not a simple task, {