If I do go, people are gonna hate me. If I don't, people are gonna hate me.
When the Los Angeles Dodgers travel to the White House on July 23 to celebrate their 2025 World Series title, star shortstop Mookie Betts will be home with his newborn — a quiet, personal choice that the current cultural climate refuses to let remain quiet. In an era when every gesture by a public figure is read as a political declaration, even the absence of a statement becomes one. Betts himself named the paradox plainly: whatever he chose, someone would be angry. What his decision ultimately reveals is less about one player's politics and more about how ceremonial traditions, once freighted with partisan expectation, lose their innocence entirely.
- The Dodgers' White House visit has become an annual flashpoint, with advocacy groups and columnists pressuring the team to treat a baseball ceremony as a political referendum.
- Mookie Betts announced he would skip the July 23 visit to spend time with his newborn, explicitly framing the decision as personal — but the political climate made neutrality impossible.
- Teammate Kike Hernandez also declined, but for explicitly political reasons, citing opposition to the Trump administration's immigration enforcement policies.
- Betts acknowledged the trap with unusual candor: 'If I do go, people are gonna hate me. If I don't, people are gonna hate me' — choosing family over the exhausting calculus of public approval.
- Manager Dave Roberts pushed back against the politicization, framing the visit as a rare ceremonial honor for athletes, not a loyalty test — but that framing may no longer carry weight in the current environment.
- The episode lands as a case study in how partisan frameworks can colonize apolitical traditions, leaving individuals no neutral ground on which to simply stand.
Mookie Betts will not be at the White House on July 23 when the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate their 2025 World Series championship. The 33-year-old shortstop said he wanted to spend time with his newborn instead. In almost any other moment, that would be the end of the story.
But the Dodgers have become a recurring flashpoint in a particular kind of modern controversy — one that has almost nothing to do with baseball. After their 2024 title, the team faced fierce criticism from left-leaning writers and advocacy groups simply for accepting President Trump's invitation to visit. When they won again, the pressure resumed immediately. Immigration organizations urged the team to take a stand. Columnists suggested it would be difficult to imagine the Dodgers posing for photos with the current president. A ceremonial tradition had been transformed into a test of political allegiance.
Betts seemed to understand the minefield he was navigating. He had already made the trip after the 2024 championship. Days off are rare during a long season, and the All-Star break offered one of the few windows to simply be home. He was not trying to make a statement, he said — and then named the impossibility of that position with unusual directness: 'If I do go, people are gonna hate me. If I don't, people are gonna hate me. So instead of trying to make everyone else happy, I'm gonna think about myself and my family.'
He was not alone in sitting out. Kike Hernandez also declined — but his reasoning was different and explicitly political, citing opposition to the Trump administration's immigration enforcement policies. The contrast between the two absences captures the broader portrait of a team caught between competing pressures, with players holding different views and a national fanbase spanning the full ideological spectrum.
Manager Dave Roberts offered a quieter counterpoint: winning a championship is rare, the visit is a ceremony not a statement, and these are athletes not politicians. But in an environment where the meaning of the visit has already been decided by outside forces, that distinction may no longer hold. Betts will be home with his family. The Dodgers will go to Washington. And the interpretations, as he predicted, will follow regardless.
Mookie Betts will not be at the White House on July 23 when the Los Angeles Dodgers visit to celebrate their 2025 World Series championship. The 33-year-old shortstop made the announcement quietly, saying he wanted to spend time with his newborn instead. But in the current climate, nothing about a Dodgers player and a White House visit stays quiet for long.
The Dodgers have become a lightning rod for a particular kind of modern sports controversy—one that has almost nothing to do with baseball. After winning the 2024 title, the team faced fierce criticism from left-leaning writers and advocacy groups for accepting President Trump's invitation to visit. When they won again last year, the pressure resumed immediately. Immigration advocacy organizations urged the team to take a political stand. Los Angeles Times columnists suggested it would be hard to imagine the Dodgers posing for photos with the current president. The underlying message was clear: a baseball team's ceremonial visit to the White House had become a test of political allegiance.
Betts seemed aware of this minefield when he explained his decision. He was not trying to make a statement, he said. The season is long and grueling. Days off are rare. A White House visit consumes most of a day and requires formal dress. He had already made the trip after the 2024 championship. He simply wanted to be home with his family. "If I do go, people are gonna hate me. If I don't, people are gonna hate me," he told reporter Jack Harris. "So instead of trying to make everyone else happy, I'm gonna think about myself and my family." He added that people would try to drag him into politics regardless of what he did. "That's just the cards I'm dealt," he said.
The timing, though, complicates the straightforward reading of his choice. The All-Star break begins the day after the announcement, giving Betts three consecutive days off before a travel day to New York for games against the Yankees. It is, in other words, one of the few moments in the season when skipping a daytime event to rest would make genuine sense. Yet it is also a moment when attending would have been logistically feasible in a way it might not be at other points in the year.
Betts is not alone in sitting out. Kike Hernandez also said he would not attend. Hernandez is scheduled to be on a rehab assignment when the team travels to the East Coast, but he indicated he likely would have declined the invitation anyway. His reasoning was different—a statement against the Trump administration's immigration enforcement policies.
What emerges from these decisions is a portrait of a team caught between competing pressures. The Dodgers have players with different political views, fans across the ideological spectrum, and a national audience that spans red states and blue states. Yet the ceremonial White House visit—a tradition that has existed across administrations of both parties—has been transformed into a referendum on political loyalty. Betts' explanation, whether entirely candid or not, highlights the impossible position: any choice becomes legible as a political choice once the framework has been established.
Manager Dave Roberts offered a simpler perspective. Winning a championship is rare enough that teams should hope for the invitation every season. These are athletes and coaches, he suggested, not politicians. The visit is a ceremony, not a statement. But in an environment where sportswriters and advocacy groups have already decided what the visit means, that distinction may no longer matter. Betts will be home with his family. The Dodgers will go to the White House. And somewhere, people will interpret both facts as proof of something larger.
Citas Notables
Instead of trying to make everyone else happy, I'm gonna think about myself and my family.— Mookie Betts
You should hope you get this invitation every season, because it means your team has won a championship.— Manager Dave Roberts
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does Betts' choice to skip feel so loaded when he's giving such a straightforward reason?
Because the Dodgers have already been cast as a political symbol. Once that happens, any decision about the White House becomes a statement, whether the player intends it or not.
But he did go last year. Doesn't that undercut the idea that he's making a political protest?
It does, which is probably why he mentioned it. He's trying to say: I'm not suddenly against Trump or the White House. I'm just tired and want my family. But the framework is already in place.
What's the actual constraint here—is it really about time off, or is it about the political pressure?
Both, probably. The time off is real. But he wouldn't need to explain it so carefully if the political pressure weren't real too. He's managing two different audiences at once.
Does it matter that Hernandez is actually making a political statement while Betts says he isn't?
It matters a lot. It shows that players have different reasons for the same choice. But once they're grouped together as "Dodgers who skipped," the distinction gets lost.
Is there a way out of this for the team?
Not really, not anymore. The White House visit stopped being just a ceremony the moment people decided it was a political test. Now every player's choice gets read as a vote.