Dodgers fans didnt buy a ticket for this

Last week, the Los Angeles Dodgers completed their $1.1 million donation to aid immigrant families affected by recent federal immigration enforcement actions in Southern California — fulfilling a pledge they made after activists and politicians successfully pressured the team to take a side.The Dodgers can spend their money however they want.That does not mean they should drag one of baseball’s most iconic brands into one of America’s most divisive political fights.Immigration is one of the defining battles in American politics.Californians disagree about it.

Angelenos disagree about it.Dodgers fans absolutely disagree about it.Some support aggressive enforcement.

Others oppose it.Some want violent criminals deported but object to broader raids.

Others want tighter borders, more deportations, or broader legalization.There is no Dodgers position on immigration policy because there is no Dodgers fan position on immigration policy.I write this as someone who has loved the Dodgers for most of my life.My parents took me and my brothers to games in the 1970s, and today I am a season ticket holder who regularly makes the drive from Orange County to Dodger Stadium.So this is not written as a detached political complaint from someone who dislikes the Dodgers.

It is written as a fan who wants the Dodgers to remain what they have always been at their best: a shared civic institution, not another combatant in California’s political wars.The Dodgers do not speak for Los Angeles.They speak for ownership, executives and the activists who demanded that the team pick a side.That distinction matters.Professional sports teams occupy a unique place in American life.Republicans and Democrats sit next to each other at Dodger Stadium.

Union members and business owners cheer for the same home runs.Immigrants and native-born Americans celebrate the same victories and complain about the same bullpen collapses.For three hours, politics can disappear.That is not a small thing in ...