⚾️ LA puts the World in World Series 🏟️

The TV that's usually reserved for a loop of Netflix animated shows at my office is tuned into the parade today

If there are two things Angelnos love, it's the Dodgers and fireworks. And both were on full display Saturday night in the most epic World Series conclusion I've ever seen. I'm glad I didn't have a strong rooting interest, because that was some of the most tense baseball I can imagine. I was happy for the city that the Dodgers won, it's been a tough year here in a string of tough years. I was also happy to see on Halloween night that all these kids were into the team, and cared about baseball. Demographically it's been established over the last decade plus that baseball is increasingly a game for old, white men. Not so much in LA. The fanbase is 40 percent Latino, the games are broadcast in English, Spanish, and Korean. One of the defining non-baseball moments during the regular season, and the height of the ICE protests was when Nezza ignored the team's request and sang the national anthem in Spanish.

I found it incredibly inspiring, and a moment of hope in a dark time when even the beloved Dodgers lacked the courage to stand up for their fanbase. Judging from the reaction of the city after the back-to-back world series win, I think most people are still ride or die Dodger fans for life. Basically everyone I saw at the Burbank airport on my recent trip was decked out like this guy:

And obviously it's not just the Latino fanbase that the team has cultivated, the Japanese community has embraced the team. There were three very stylish Japanese fans sitting next to me in the upper deck when I went to a Phillies Dodgers game in the NLDS, which already seems like months ago:

The stands reflected the multicultural nature of the city, and even though I'll always be a Phillies fan, this is a very easy Dodgers team to like. When Lynn and I traveled to Japan a couple years ago, I got an Ohtani t-shirt to wear and bonded with a few older Japanese men on the street who spoke no English. Our entire conversation was "older man: Ohtani?? me: Ohtani!" And we both smiled. I think they also liked that I was wearing a Yakult Swallows hat, they're the Tokyo team that lives in the shadow of the more celebrated Yomiuri Giants. They're also Haruki Murakami's favorite team, so I was already inclined to support them before we happened upon their team shop.

Kyoto streets selfie. We are the only ones to ever do this.

So even though the World Series win was hard on our dog Miles (because of the aforementioned fireworks), I'm glad they were able to bring some unity and civic pride to this disjointed city I reluctantly call home.