Well, hi again, y’all. I’ll admit, it’s been quite some time since I’ve been here but I’m a busy boy. Thankfully, my anghel of a wifey, Lynndee, the creator of this blog, hasn’t fired me yet.

And with that said, I can move on to the momentous reason I’ve returned to the blogosphere. That being Tuesday night’s conclusion of the 2021 World Series which crowned my favorite team, the Atlanta Braves, champions of the world!

I’ve been a Braves fan since they moved to Atlanta in 1966, seeing that Atlanta is roughly 200 miles from my home here in the mountains of Western North Carolina. But it wasn’t until 1973 that I made my first trip to see them play in person. That was the final two games of the regular season where I got to see Hank Aaron hit his 713th home run, one short of Babe Ruth’s record. That was on a Saturday night. But, unfortunately, though he had a good game Sunday, going 3 for four, all singles, he didn’t break the Babe’s record until the next season.

National League East Champions

Though they’d won their division, the National League East, the three previous years, it was wide open race the beginning of this season. But it was almost as if they’d been cursed and this season turned into an absolute disaster. I’ll not even attempt to tell that story; it’d be like a novel as long as War and Peace. But the final cruncher was the loss of their right fielder, Ronald Acuna, Jr., who ripped out his ACL on July 10, ending what could have possibly been a Most Valuable Player year considering the numbers he’d accumulated up to that point.

But that’s when the change slowly began. Alex Anthopoulos, the general manager and president of baseball operations for the Braves, first picked up an outfielder from the Chicago Cubs to replace Acuna. And then, right at the end of the trading deadline at the end of July, he traded for and signed three more outfielders, in essence changing the outfield line-up for the third time in this single season. This was also after using a total of 7 catchers after losing the main starter for 3 months due to injury.

And at that, they were still 5 games out of first place on August 1. But they were only 1.5 games back after a loss on August 12 which was when the miracle truly began. They then went on a nine game road trip, winning all 9 away from home, returned home August 23rd with a 4 game lead and never looked back, finally winning the division by 6.5 games.

Division Series Champions

The Braves won only 88 regular season games and they first faced the 95-win Milwaukee Brewers in the Division Series, winning it 3 games to 1. Then came the Los Angeles Dodgers who won 106 games before defeating the San Francisco Giants in their playoff series, the Giants having had a 107 game-winning season.

In last year’s Division Championship series, the Brave had jumped ahead of the Dodgers 3 games to 1, needing only one more win to move on to the World Series. But…the Dodgers pulled a miracle of their own, coming back to sweep the final three games before moving on to their first Series win since 1988.

National League Champions

It looked as if the same scenario was about to repeat this year, the Braves taking a 3 game to 1 lead with the Dodgers winning game 5 to make it 3-2. However, the Braves won Game 6, moving on to the World Series for the first time since 1999.

World Series 2021 Champions

They faced another team who had more regular season wins than they had, the Houston Astros, who had won 95 regular season games. It was another hard fought battle, and, after going up 3 games to one, it still got dramatic with Houston winning Game 5 to make the series 3-2. However, game 6 was a runaway with the Braves winning 7-0, winning their second Atlanta series, the first since 1995.

Their manager, Brian Snitker, a lifetime Brave, having been with the organization for 45 years, was just the steady influence to deal with all the trauma this team had. As he put it, it was a grind that had to be dealt with on a daily basis, facing each bump and pothole as they arose. And in what was now his 5th full season as manager, he’s reached the pinnacle of baseball success, after spending years managing minor league teams, with all the 12 hour bus rides and dumpy motels and restaurants.

Ironically, I’d had a gut feeling about this team the entire season. I knew they had the ability to pull this off. The 1914 Boston Braves, the genesis of the Braves organization, won the Series that year, becoming known as the Miracle Braves. Then there was the 1969 New York Mets, who became known as “The Miracle Mets” or “The Amazin’ Mets” by defeating the Baltimore Orioles, considered to be one of the finest teams ever. And the 1957 Milwaukee Braves, before moving to Atlanta, won the 1957 World Series over the New York Yankees in 7 games.

So the Braves have quite a storied World Series history, 1914, 1957, 1995 and now 2021. Us die-hard fans can only hope that this group can pull a back-to-back, just like that great Big Red Machine, the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds who won back-to-back World Series.

At least I don’t have to say those dreaded Brooklyn Dodger words they used after losing to the Yankees again, “Oh well, wait till next year”, because next year is here now! And I can hardly wait till next year’s opening day, just 143 days away. See ya then! Go Braves!