OPINION | Do we really need a Dodgers victory parade?

Fans celebrate in the streets in Los Angeles after the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 of baseball’s World Series Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025.(AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

If you’re a Los Angeles-based Filipino Dodger fan, forgive me.

But for the rest of us, if you were watching Fox, you surely didn’t see much attention placed on the losers. It’s like they didn’t exist. What you saw was the Dodgers dousing each other in champagne, smoking cigars, acting like winners – acting like Americans.

In a way, it was disgraceful. I couldn’t watch it. It was excessive. Do we really need to see a Dodger parade on Monday?

I was paying attention to the Canadian coverage. It was human, with players crying and expressing love for their teammates. The Blue Jays weren’t angry. They had their chances. But they lost with grace, dignity and pride.

It was a lesson in sportsmanship and civility, something we’ve lost in America.

Winners dictate the tone and style of our country

Considering how America’s politics trickles down in our culture, the way the Dodgers acted was definitely in keeping with the tone set by our “America first” leader.

He’s the guy who still thinks he won the 2020 election, and who at every second reminds us of how elections are rigged. He’s the guy who seeks revenge in 2025 against all those who voted against him to the point that he has dictated a shutdown of the US government, leading to the disruption of SNAP (food stamp) benefits to 42 million Americans.

That’s winning, according to this current administration.

It cuts food and medical aid to Africa and other underdeveloped countries, subjecting people to starvation and to harm from curable disease.

It gloats and talks about deserving the Nobel Peace Prize for a ceasefire that hasn’t held.

It indicts people who stand up and respect the rule of law.

That’s the way America acts now, just like its leader. The guy who doesn’t think twice about demolishing the part of the White House he doesn’t care for and remodels the Lincoln bedroom in marble and gold.

Winners dictate the tone and style of our country these days. You learn to love the garish, especially if you’re part of the billionaire class.

 But it sure makes winning feel like losing.

The game as metaphor

Los Angeles Dodgers World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto holds his trophy as teammates celebrate their win in Game 7 of baseball’s World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025, in Toronto. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

The Dodgers may be the best team money could buy. But they weren’t the best team in this World Series. The Jays were not David to the Dodgers’ Goliath; they were equals. It took extra innings to get to a winner, which is how it works in sports, where luck is as important as skill.

It took a home run from a player who rarely hits home runs (Miguel Roxas) to extend game 7. And it took a superhuman effort from Yoshinubo Yamamoto, who pitched the night before, and then came back on ZERO days rest to pitch 2 2/3 innings to win game 7 in relief.

Yamamoto is bought and paid for as is the best player in baseball, Shohei Ohtani. They both delivered.

Ohtani started game 7 but didn’t finish as the Jays held a 3-1 lead for most of the game. 

As an Asian American, sure, I love to see both these guys – Asians in America – do well. 

I would change my surname after the best player ever to play baseball to Guillerm-OHTANI.

And certainly, the two of them were celebrating in the end in the locker room. But of their teammates, and maybe because of language, they seemed a tad more humble.

I’ve seen and covered a number of World Series games in my day, mostly during the Giants’ exciting run in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

Frankly, I was rooting for Canada in this World Series. Going to Canada in the summer for six weeks made me appreciate the country and its politics which is all about diversity. I saw and appreciated the huge Asian population throughout the country. Filipinos in Winnipeg and Edmonton. South Asians everywhere. Chinese in Vancouver.

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage hugs Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) in the dugout during the seventh inning in Game 5 of baseball’s World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Woke is not the enemy in Canada as it is here.

So I liked the Jays and felt sad when they lost. It bothered me to realize how champagne celebrations are so boorish.

It wasn’t until I saw the coverage in Canada that I felt the real emotion of the World Series. I didn’t see Ernie Clement and Chris Bassitt of the Jays on Fox. I saw them on the Toronto Star’s coverage. They spoke about a love for their teammates, not antagonism toward the Dodgers. They regretted not being able to play with their guys one more time.

Hearing the Jays players talk about the heartbreak of today will make them better winners tomorrow.

That’s the civil lesson of sports, too often lost on the winners.

Emil Guillermo is an award-winning journalist, news analyst and comic stage performer. He writes for the Inquirer.net’s US Channel. He has written a weekly “Amok” column on Asian American issues for more than 30 years. Find him on YouTube, patreon and substack. 

See him perform his latest “Emil Amok” monologue, Nov. 19 at the SF Marsh.  Save the date and get tickets now. 

See him talk about the news, California’s Yes on 50, other elections and Filipino American History with San Francisco State striker, Asian American Studies Prof. emeritus Daniel Phil Gonzales at the San Francisco Public Library (3rd floor) on Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 5:30 p.m.