Welcome to Atlanta, where the World Series collides with culture wars
![Portrait of Gabe Lacques](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.usatoday.com/gcdn/-mm-/35abe59abf958110753692b9ba4544991e47e885/c=5-21-573-589/local/-/media/2019/03/15/USATODAY/USATODAY/636882551001088387-Gabe-Lacques.jpg?width=48&height=48&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
ATLANTA – In more conventional times, the World Series symbolizes innocuous Americana perhaps better than any event. And when it returns to Atlanta this weekend for the first time since 1999, still-shiny Truist Park will feature all the trappings.
The World Series logo clings tightly to rain-dampened first and third base lines, the red-white-and-blue bunting hanging regally from three levels. In the stadium’s catacombs, a display of black and red balloons outside a ballpark suite are adorned with a string of white balloons, capturing the zeitgeist with a tribute to outfielder Joc Pederson’s pearl necklace.
Yet all the pomp – the first pitch, the anthem, the fireworks – can’t erase the fact that this suburban diamond is doubling as a battlefield in the culture wars.
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