Twenty-Six years is a long time. For those of us who are fans and love the Atlanta Braves, it was a really long time.
Many of us in this area have followed the Atlanta Braves for most of our lives, if not all of our lives. We tuned in to TBS at 7:05 every night from early spring until the playoffs. We followed them over to Fox Sports South and now Bally Sports. We followed them fro Fulton County Stadium to Turner Field and now Truist Park. No matter the channel or the venue we were right there cheering on our Atlanta Braves. I remember when my grandparents finally broke down and got cable at their house instead of just having an antenna and my papa watched the Braves every night.
There were some good years. All the division titles and pennants but only the one world series. Always felt like they massively underachieved. Hall of Fame rotation and all those great players and only one title to show for it. Then there were the down years. The Gonzales years. The bad years. Yet as Braves fans we still loved our team.
This year was something special. After getting our hearts broke last year after being up 3-1 on the Dodgers to see them come back, win the series, and then go on to win it all hurt. But there was plenty of optimism for 2021. Soroka would be back, we had the young guys locked in for long term deals, had the reigning MVP, and so much more. Then the season started.
Soroka had set backs. Acuna tore his ACL. Ozuna arrested and suspended. Soroka re-injured the achilles and is done for the year. Then whole starting outfield is hurt or gone and much more. The Allstar break came and they had a losing record. Could not get to .500, just flat struggled. Management didn’t give up and made some moves at the trade deadline that would end up being some of the biggest moves ever although nobody would have guessed that at the time.
Soler, Pederson, Rosario all had their moments during the playoffs and were the fuel the Braves needed to win the title.
But pitching got it done for Atlanta. Max Fried struggled in his last two starts before game 6, but was brilliant in the clinching game for the Braves.
While I understand Soler winning World Series MVP I wish they could have given the award to the bullpen (or arm barn), because outside of one spot against the Dodgers, and one inning in game 5 the bullpen was absolutely lights out. Minter, Jackson, Matzek, and Smith were all terrific. Those guys won this World Series.
I am happiest for two people, Freddie Freeman and Brian Snitker. Freddie was there for some rough years and has been the face of this franchise through it all. Brian Snitker has given his whole life to the Braves organization and brought the Braves out of some dark times. For him to have stayed in this organization over 40 years is incredible.
The ultimate justice moment, whether you believe in karma or irony or whatever, for Rob Manfred to have to hand the Braves the World Championship, after stripping them of the Allstar game due to new Georgia election laws the Braves had nothing to do with, on election day seems pretty ironic to me.
World Champs Baby!! Go Braves! Chop on! Lets hope we aren’t waiting 26 more years.
