Commentary: 5 reasons the Dodgers should not go back to the White House again next year

This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.

See more from the L.A.Times in Google Search.

Set us as preferred What’s done is done.The Dodgers went to the White House on Thursday and met with President Trump for the second year in a row, following back-to-back World Series championships.At the time of their visit, the Dodgers had the best record in Major League Baseball with 65 wins and 38 losses.Winning three titles in a row won’t be easy, but assuming they pull off another victory in October, here are five reasons the Dodgers should not go back to the White House next year.Ceremonial visits have been going on for years, and both Democratic and Republican presidents have embraced the tradition with athletes from various sports.If you’d like to know why I didn’t have anything to say in 2021, when the Dodgers visited President Biden at the White House, that’s a good question.I didn’t dwell on it at the time because I think such visits are kind of ho-hum.

But now we’ve had three visits in five years, and in my head, this hammers home the point that baseball players have nothing to gain from a visit.They’re baseball players, and as such, there is no higher honor than winning the World Series.I like baseball, but it’s not like these guys are astronauts, just back from the moon.If the Dodgers want to mark their achievement and honor the game of baseball in the nation’s capital, fine.

They should go to the Smithsonian as a team and visit the display where Jackie Robinson’s jersey is enshrined.As Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts put it in saying that he wouldn’t join his teammates, he couldn’t win either way.“If I do” go, he said, “people are gonna hate me.If I don’t, people are gonna hate me.”That’s an exaggeration, but I get his point.

Dodger utility man Kiké Hernandez said he wasn’t going, either, explaining that he was busy rehabbing an injury.The Dodgers should take the pressur...