atlanta-braves
The Atlanta Braves, winners of ten straight NL East Pennants and the 1995 World Champions, have looked down right putrid these past couple of years. However, with a new GM, some new faces, a few familiar ones, and the same Hall of Fame manager, this could be the year the Braves return to the top of the heap in the NL East. Will this year be the year?
It was a golden age for Atlanta: 14 consecutive division titles, 5 National League pennants, 1 World Series victory. From the improbable turnaround from obscurity in 1991 to the final playoff meltdown in the 2005 Division Series, the Braves were royalty in the baseball realm and were consequently perpetual targets, adding even more mystique to one of the most impressive runs in the history of sports.
Who’s sick of the Atlanta Braves? If I asked ten people, I bet nine would raise their hands. I was always sick of them. More than any Mets fan, Phillies fan or any NL East wanna be du-jour. They have been clogging up baseball’s postseason since 1991, with only one championship to show for, in the post-strike 1995 season, when about three people cared outside of Cleveland and Atlanta.
I hated them. More than any professional franchise in sports. More than the Yankees, the Cleveland Browns or Philadelphia Flyers.
Imagine if a team in the NFL had won their division every single year since 1990. Everybody would be talking about this team heading into the year, they would be one of the most popular teams in all of sports, and it wouldn’t even be a question if they were going to repeat once again as division champions. Why is it any different with the Braves current situation in baseball?
When the Atlanta Braves named Roger McDowell as the new pitching coach set to replace Leo Mazzone, it brought two images to my mind: 1) the former major league pitcher Jack McDowell–who was known as much for his antics as he was his pitching ability, and 2) the mock hamburger restaurant in “Coming to America” that boasted of having the “golden arcs” as opposed to the “golden arches”.
Throughout the current baseball season, the Atlanta Braves have seen their world be turned upside down. A team that was so consistent over thirteen rigorous seasons now finds itself with what seems like new players everyday. And this has happened to team that isn’t used to changing its lineup card every single day. Consistency has been the name of the game for the Braves throughout their streak of divisional championships. Those who helped the Braves stay consistent and atop the National League East, now have mostly gone their separate ways. Nowadays, only a few remain from the same teams from way back, when at the time, all the Braves had to worry about was drafting and developing talent for the future. The only different aspect know, is that the Braves are now being forced to develop talent, and also play them, all within a yearlong baseball season.
For many years, thirteen to be exact, the Braves have arguably been the most consistent team in baseball. Thirteen consecutive division titles is a record that no team in any sport has matched. Many things go into such a feat. Luck, a Hall of Fame caliber manager, pitching coach, and general manager, and great players that have come and gone. But there is another key that does not get recognition, the farm system.
For the last 13 seasons there has been but one constant: that the Atlanta Braves will win their division. There has been one other near-constant: that the Atlanta Braves will lose in the playoffs.
Nothing ever changes in the National League East, going back to 1991. Since then the Florida Marlins have won two World Series crowns. The New York Mets fell apart and bottomed out, rose again in a new era, and then fell apart and started over again. The Philadelphia Phillies escaped mediocrity and formed a loveable and grimy squad that almost won it all, imploded and started rebuilding with new stars. The Montreal Expos sent future Hall of Famers to every other team except their own, and never took a step in the right direction. There was a strike that cancelled the World Series. The wild card was invented and Major League Baseball went to three divisions per league from two. But nothing has changed. Every year over that extended span, the Atlanta Braves have always wound up as champions of their division.