It didn’t have to be political. But the Left makes everything political. Ironically, this time that politicization is part of what made last night’s Atlanta Braves’ World Series championship so incredible.

The storied history of Major League Baseball’s World Series is that of sports heroes valiantly playing America’s national pastime and entertaining us all. Thanks to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, however, this year had a political taint made palatable only by a lot of schadenfreude. Taking pleasure in the misfortune of others isn’t exactly a virtue, but it’s absolutely a part of sports. And it came in spades last night for Manfred when he had to present baseball’s championship trophy to the Atlanta Braves, who defeated the Houston Astros in six games.

Back in April, Manfred preemptively caved to the leftist mob by yanking MLB’s All-Star Game out of Atlanta to punish Georgia for enacting an election integrity law. Never mind the fact that Manfred hurt a 50/50 minority city by costing its businesses $100 million. Or that he moved the game to Denver, which is 90/10 white, and to Colorado, which has election laws not quite as permissive as Georgia’s. Never mind even that the Peach State’s 16 electoral votes went to Joe Biden, and the state elected not one but two Democrat senators in January.

Manfred chose to side with Democrats in their battle against voter integrity because, led by Joe “Unity” Biden, they derided Georgia’s law as “Jim Crow 2.0.” Manfred chose to side against Republicans and their Braves-fan voters because Georgia’s elected representatives worked toward honest and fair elections.

That’s to say nothing of the endless muckraking over the Braves’ team name. The very idea that a bunch of racists would express their superiority by naming their team after the subject of their prejudice is mind-numbing. Nevertheless, it’s become a fad among white leftists who think minorities can’t make it without them to cry about “racist” team names like “Braves.” And to throw fits over things like the Tomahawk Chop.

So, after all that, it was simply marvelous to watch Braves fans boo Manfred as he choked through the words about it being his “honor and pleasure” to have to present the World Series trophy to the team, the city, and the state he recklessly slandered a few short months ago. We can only imagine his heartburn was magnified by the fact that he was in Houston, Texas, another state that passed voter integrity legislation over the hysterical leftist cries of “racism.”

Finally, to bring it back around to the sport of baseball without all the politics, the Braves’ run was simply remarkable. They were a losing team from the season’s opening day in April until early August, but they made some key acquisitions at the trade deadline and played excellent baseball down the stretch, including an 11-5 run through the postseason en route to a championship. No one expected them to make the playoffs. They were underdogs in every series. Yet they turned hardship into motivation and victory. If that isn’t an American story, we don’t know what is.