The 2021 Atlanta Braves: Everyone’s Mid-Season World Series Champion
Braves Country: I am truly sorry. Back in my article previewing each October ballclub, I noted that the Braves would make it no farther than their guaranteed matchup with the Brewers, losing in the National League Division Series. Facing a tough Milwaukee club with big-name starters Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, and Freddy Peralta, I had little faith that a Ronald Acuna-less Atlanta club could win the series. Boy, was I wrong. Let’s take a look back at the Braves season as a whole, and what made them so special.
May 29: Middle-of-the-lineup outfielder Marcell Ozuna is arrested for domestic abuse charges. He goes on to miss the rest of the season.
July 10: The 43-44 Braves entered a Saturday afternoon matchup in Miami with the Marlins. Atlanta had been sitting around .500 for the whole season, playing as a surprise disappointment so far. After a win on Friday night, Brian Snitker needed his club to go into the All-Star Break with momentum for the second half. Flash forward to the bottom of the fifth inning of Saturday’s game. Marlins’ second baseman Jazz Chisholm corrals a ball on a line to deep right field. Braves star player Ronald Acuna sprints to the liner, knowing that Chisholm has great speed. He gets to it, times his leap, and down goes Acuna. Chisholm would come around to score, but an inside-the-park home run would be the least of Atlanta’s problems. The Braves went on to win that Saturday game 5-4, but they would enter the second half of the season one game under .500 and their star player undergoing ACL surgery, causing him to miss the remainder of the season.
July 11: Orlando Arcia, Guillermo Heredia, and Ehire Adrianza, three backups, were slotted to play the outfield for the Braves as emergency outfielders in their final game of the first half.
July 15: The Atlanta front office begins searching for outfield help, acquiring lefty stick Joc Pederson from the Cubs.
July 30: The Braves add more outfield help by acquiring sluggers Jorge Soler, Adam Duvall, and Eddie Rosario, which was an automatic upgrade from the last trio.
August 1-October 3: The Braves go 38-19 the rest of the season while securing a Postseason birth and NL East title, too.
Then, we get to the Postseason, where the Braves played as underdogs during the whole month of October. They knocked out the Brewers in four games, losing Game 1, then winning three straight. Surely they couldn’t beat the 106-win Dodgers. Try again.
Atlanta defeated the L.A. Dodgers in six games to advance to the World Series, getting revenge for last year’s heartbreaking NLCS loss to L.A. While guys like Austin Riley, Freddie Freeman, and Max Fried all had big moments for the Braves, it was NLCS MVP who was the X-factor. Rosario had 14 hits in 25 at-bats, while also hitting three home runs, including the knockout three-run jack in Game 6. Their final test was the Astros, but surely they would lose to the veterans who fill the Astros’ lineup. Try again, again.
The Braves stuck to the story, and overcame the odds once again, defeating the Astros in a six-game Fall Classic. In Game 1, ace Charlie Morton was hit in the leg with a comebacker. Little did he know that he suffered a broken leg from it, but still proceeded to retire the next three batters. Morton’s absence and a depleted, tired pitching staff did not stop this team from producing. The Braves sent the series back to Atlanta with a 1-1 series tie, and left for Houston needing to win one before losing two. In Game 6, the Braves won their first World Series since 1995 thanks to Max Fried’s dominant outing and Jorge Soler’s early moonshot that cleared the Minute Maid Park train tracks. Jorge Soler was named the World Series MVP after blasting three home runs, six runs batted in, and slashing a 1.191 OPS (on-base plus slugging).
The story of the 2021 Atlanta Braves will always be grit. In a season with so many ups and downs, such as losing Marcell Ozuna, playing mediocre for the first half of the season and Ronald Acuna tearing his ACL. The Braves stuck with Freeman and the team they had while making the necessary acquisitions of four solid everyday outfielders. Atlanta would go on a historic and remarkable second half and Postseason run as Freddie Freeman and Brian Snitker finally get their rings. The 2021 Braves will be a team everyone will remember for a long time.
