Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves are a Major league Baseball team located in Atlanta Georgia and are a part of the National League in the east division. The Braves have played in a variety of stadiums over the years, including Atlanta-Fulton County stadium from 1966-1996, Turner field from 1197- 2017 and currently play all their home games at Truist Park.

The team started using the name, Braves, in 1912 and originated from a term commonly associated with Native American warriors. While the name is still a tad controversial to this day, the team has not made any decision to change it. The Atlanta Braves were also dubbed America’s team from 1970 to 2007 due to having their games nationally broadcast on the TBS Network.

Another interesting moniker the Atlanta Braves would carry was the best team in the MLB due to winning 14 consecutive division titles between 1991 and 2005. Although this would stand as one of the best records in MLB history and a testament to the consistency the team was able to manage during these seasons, they always came up short when it came to a World Series title.

For example, the Atlanta Braves defeated the Pirates 4-3 in the NLCS series and advanced to take on the Minnesota Twins. Unfortunately for the Braves, they would come up short to Minnesota 4-3 in the World Series. What made the loss even worse was that the team was down 0-2 in the series and won three straight games before dropping the final two.

The next season, the Braves would go 98-64 and again use their consistency to make the playoffs. With that being said however, they fared even worse this time, losing to the Blue Jay’s 4-2 in the World Series. This would mark the second straight year that they had made it to the World Series.

The next two years were a mixed bag of outcomes for the Atlanta Braves and really started to show some cracks in what was believed to be an unstoppable team. In 1993, the Braves managed to make the playoffs, but lost in the NCLS to the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2. The team would follow that up by missing the playoffs completely in 1994 and finishing with a 68-46 record.

In 1995 however it was a completely different story. Not only did the Atlanta Braves finish with a 90-54 record, destroyed the Rockies 3-1 in the NLDS, obliterated the Reds in the NLCS 4-0 and went on to defeat the Indians in the World Series. The team’s success that year was said to be due to clutch hitting, and a pitching rotation that would be the envy of almost the entire league.

Of course, the Braves would try to repeat that magic in 1996 and even made it all the way back to the World Series but were outplayed by the New York Yankees 4-2. Now, some of that might have had to do with the fact that the Braves were coming off a 4-3 series against the Cardinals, but they still didn’t seem to have the same magic they captured in 1995.

Fast forward to the late 2010’s and the Atlanta Braves have remained on the cusp of playoff contention for years now. In fact, after missing the playoffs for four straight years between 2014-2017, the team managed to make it to the postseason, where they lost to the Dodger 3-2 in The NLDS. They followed that up with another playoff appearance in 2019, but were defeated in the NLDS by the Cardinals 3-2

The Atlanta Braves current roster consists of Freddie Freeman, Dansby Swanson, Mike Soroka, Austin Riley, Ian Anderson, Ozzie Allbies and Max Fried Their head coach is Brian Snitker, who touts a record with the Braves of 336-304, which puts him just above .500. Although that record might not seem particularly impressive, he has taken the team from .400 in 2016, to a .600 record in 2020.

In the end the Atlanta Braves have a very rich history of consistency, powerful pitching, winning championships and putting up big time numbers If nothing else this is a team that could go all the way back to the World Series with a few key changes and will be a true force in the MLB for years to come.