World Champion Atlanta Braves 2021

By David A. Avila

Congratulations to the Atlanta Braves who defeated Houston Astros in six games to win the World Series in 2021.

What a season they had.

It was always befuddling to see the Atlanta Braves led by the great Freddie Freeman struggle all season to win the NL Eastern Division. The team was loaded both in pitching, hitting and defense.

When star player Ronald Acuna was lost to injury, it seemed the Braves would sink like an oversized anchor on a rowboat. Instead, the team picked up a slew of sluggers like Adam Duvall, Joc Pederson, Jorge Soler and Eddie Rosario.

As the last two months of the season commenced the Braves began clicking in sync and once they clinched the division title, they were a juggernaut. They easily disposed of Milwaukee Brewers and the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers with the one-man army named Eddie Rosario.

The Braves pitcher helped too of course.

It was expected that the winner between the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants in the five-game series would eventually win the whole shebang. Of course, if you go by the numbers of games won in the regular season, the two teams won 107 games counting the one-game Wild Card win by the Dodgers. The Braves only grabbed a mere 88 wins but during the playoffs its always the hot team that wins.

Those Braves were hot.

Each one of those guys picked up in mid-season contributed mightily. And then you have to look at the pitching staff. All season long the starters kept the team in the hunt with the addition of Charlie Morton to a staff that already had Max Fried, Ian Anderson and Mike Soroka, the team was built around pitching.

Of course, the Braves bullpen did their job whenever needed with Tyler Matzek, Will Smith and company shutting down the Dodgers and Astros to win it all.

Once again, congratulations to the Braves organization who finally won a World Series after last winning it in 1995.

(Photo by Houston Chronicle)