The 2021 World Series: Braves vs. Astros

Lowrielicious

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Apr 19, 2011
4,328
Congrats braves fans.

In the end they did it pretty fucking easy. Never faced an elimination game.
Lead from early (ish) in clinching games other than the clinch against brewers.

In hindsight they did it about as easy as you can get.

Great run.
 
Congratulations to @Conigliaro's Potential and all Braves fans out there! Stoked for you - that was a heck of a ride.
Y'know, it has occurred to me that the Braves title must somehow be linked to my Olympic baseball commentary. After the first day of Olympic baseball, the Braves were 50-53; when I called the gold medal game, they were above .500 - on a four-game winning streak - and would never go below .500 again. Coincidence?

But seriously, I have no idea how to feel. THIS is the Atlanta team to break the hoodoo? It was such a disappointment for two-thirds of the season that I was barely paying attention to it - Sorotka injured, Acuña injured, Ozuna sucking and then accused of domestic violence, the bullpen sucking, etc. Even when they found a second gear and made the playoffs, I literally had no expectations and was waiting for the usual postseason heartbreak. (Just to remind everyone, the only other time a major Atlanta sports team won a title, I was on my junior year abroad at the University of St. Andrews in 1995 and wasn't able to watch a single minute of the Braves' playoff run, so in a very real sense this is completely new to me.) And last night, my guard was still so up that I couldn't savor the blowout the way fans of normal sports cities could - in one sense, I wish the game had been more dramatic and compelling, because I was bound to be tense right up to the end no matter what, and a dramatic finish would have better fit my mood and temperament. But maybe, juuuust maybe, Atlanta can now be a normal, run-of-the-mill sports city that wins its fair-ish share of titles. (Go Hawks!)
 

burstnbloom

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Jul 12, 2005
2,761
Stoked for Freddie Freeman. So so so happy to watch the Astros lose, fittingly to the franchise they remind me of so much. The Braves of the 90's = the astros of the last 5 years. Just much more unlikeable and more cheating.
 

Leather

given himself a skunk spot
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
28,451
Stoked for Freddie Freeman. So so so happy to watch the Astros lose, fittingly to the franchise they remind me of so much. The Braves of the 90's = the astros of the last 5 years. Just much more unlikeable and more cheating.
I don't see the similarities. The 90's Braves were built on (mostly) homegrown pitching that remained remarkably, historically, consistent over the run. They had some homegrown hitters as well (Justice, Chipper...) but it was their trifecta of Smoltz, Glavine, and Maddux that is the defining personnel of that team's era.

The Astros are mostly a mercenary pitching unit. They're defined by their homegrown hitting, absolutely, but Cole, Verlander, Greinke, Charlie Morton...all these guys were hired guns. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I don't see any real similarities to the Braves of the 90s.
 

ledsox

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Nov 14, 2005
398
Congrats to CP and the Braves fans. Still hard to believe what Fried did after he got stepped in last night. A magical run.

Exactly half of the league has won a title this century and of those 15 teams, eight different teams have won in the last eight years.
 

InsideTheParker

persists in error
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
40,371
Pioneer Valley
I love how everyone has his/her point of view on sports:
The game contained what might have been the most Jewish play in any Major League Baseball matchup ever: In the bottom of the second inning, Astros star third baseman Alex Bregman stepped up to the plate and sliced Fried’s second pitch to right field, where Braves outfielder Joc Pederson easily caught it for out number two.

To most fans, the sequence was a mundane flyout with no significance. But to Jewish fans, the play showcased three Jewish players performing on the sport’s biggest stage.
https://www.jta.org/2021/11/03/sports/max-fried-pitches-atlanta-braves-to-first-world-championship-in-26-years

Also, from the Baseball Talmud, "Why is this night in baseball different from all other nights in baseball?"
 

Tokyo Sox

Baka Gaijin
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Feb 16, 2006
6,132
There
Y'know, it has occurred to me that the Braves title must somehow be linked to my Olympic baseball commentary. After the first day of Olympic baseball, the Braves were 50-53; when I called the gold medal game, they were above .500 - on a four-game winning streak - and would never go below .500 again. Coincidence?
I think it's clear they owe you a partial WS share, and maybe a ring.

But maybe, juuuust maybe, Atlanta can now be a normal, run-of-the-mill sports city that wins its fair-ish share of titles. (Go Hawks!)
Whoa whoa whoa whoa. Look we're all very happy for you but lets not get too carried away here.
 
I think it's clear they owe you a partial WS share, and maybe a ring.
Funny, it's just occurred to me...in the summer of 1991 I went to Europe, touring with a wind ensemble, and the Braves got hot while I was away that summer as well and turned from a middling team into one of the Cinderella sports stories of the 90s. Hmmm.
Whoa whoa whoa whoa. Look we're all very happy for you but lets not get too carried away here.
Yeah, I'm not holding my breath either.