As the team plans to celebrate its championship in Washington, fans at home ask what respect and loyalty look like in a city under strain.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are scheduled to visit the White House on April 2, 2026, to celebrate their 2025 World Series championship — their second consecutive title and the ninth in franchise history. On paper, it’s a familiar tradition: championship teams honoring the office of the presidency, regardless of politics.
But in Los Angeles, this moment lands differently.
The visit comes amid intensified immigration enforcement actions across Southern California — raids that have rattled neighborhoods, separated families, and sent shockwaves through the very communities that have sustained the Dodgers for generations. For many fans, this is no longer a question of party or protocol. It is a question of values.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told the Los Angeles Times that he plans to attend, saying, “I was raised — by a man who served our country for 30 years — to respect the highest office in our country. For me, it doesn’t matter who is in the office; I’m going to go to the White House. I’ve never tried to be political. … I’m going to continue to do what tradition says and not make political statements, because I am not a politician.” His remarks echo reporting by Dodger Blue, which noted that the visit would mirror the team’s 2025 White House appearance following their 2024 championship. Tradition, however, does not exist in a vacuum. Neither does loyalty.
Beyond Politics, Toward Humanity
The Dodgers are not just a baseball team in Los Angeles. They are an institution woven into immigrant neighborhoods, multigenerational families, and working-class communities — many of them Latino — who see Dodger blue as part of their civic identity. That relationship carries weight.
Immigration raids are not an abstract policy debate in this city. They show up at car washes, garment factories, construction sites, and apartment complexes. According to data reported by national outlets including Reuters and The Associated Press, recent enforcement actions have disproportionately affected long-established immigrant families, many with U.S.-born children.
For fans watching this unfold, a White House visit without acknowledgment of that pain can feel like silence — or worse, indifference.
This is not about demanding players make speeches or refuse honors. It is about recognizing that showing up also communicates something. Optics matter because people matter.
Fans Have Agency, Too
If the Dodgers choose to attend the White House while remaining publicly silent about the fear gripping their home city, fans have every right to respond — including through boycott.
Boycotts are not tantrums. They are one of the oldest forms of civic participation, used when people feel unheard. Fans are not obligated to separate sports from life when life is showing up at their doorstep.
The Dodgers organization has long benefited from presenting itself as inclusive, community-rooted, and culturally aware. That reputation wasn’t built in Washington. It was built in Los Angeles.
What Respect Really Looks Like
Respect for the presidency does not require ignoring the people who made your success possible. It is possible — and necessary — to honor achievement while also honoring humanity.
If the Dodgers go to the White House, they should carry Los Angeles with them — not just the trophy. And if they don’t, fans are justified in reminding the organization where its true home is.
Because this moment isn’t about politics.
It’s about who you stand with when it matters.
WHAT WOULD A DODGERS SEASON WITHOUT LATINOS WOULD LOOK LIKE?
