On Tuesday night, the Atlanta Braves won the World Series in game six against the Houston Astros. This is the Braves first World Series Championship since 1995 and their 4th championship in franchise history. This Atlanta Braves team was an exciting team to watch for all baseball fans, not just Braves fans. With guys like Freddie Freeman, Ozzie Albies, Joc Pederson and the World Series MVP Jorge Soler, this team was easily likeable. The combination of a bunch of guys that are easy to root for and a great story to this season made it seem like all of baseball’s fans were pulling for the Braves, except maybe Astros fans. 

The Braves have almost too many great stories from this postseason to even cover them all. Entering the postseason, the Braves were an 88 win team, which is a pretty respectable record and enough for them to win the NL East, but they were still overlooked by many MLB analysts and fans. Atlanta was stuck in the shadow of the 95 win Brewers, the 106 win Dodgers and the 107 win Giants. The Braves actually had the lowest number of wins of any team to make it into the playoffs this year, so many people questioned just how legit the team was. Of course, in baseball, any team that makes it to the postseason has a shot to win it all, that’s just the way baseball works, it’s so unpredictable. In fact, in early July, the Braves were given only a 0.3% chance to win the World Series. 

The Braves overcame a lot of adversity throughout the season, including losing their superstar centerfielder, Ronald Acuna Jr, to a knee injury. After this devistating blow to the Braves lineup, there was plenty of uncertainty in the baseball world about Atlanta’s playoff hopes. Despite the loss of Acuna, the Braves were able to battle their way into the postseason after acquiring a couple of key players before the trade deadline. The additions of Joc Pederson, Eddie Rosario and Jorge Soler gave the Braves the boost that they needed to win the NL East for the fourth straight season. These additions also gave some of the original guys in Atlanta somewhat of a morale boost. Austin Riley went from having just about an average season to becoming a legitimate MVP candidate. Freddie Freeman returned to his normal self and provided the Braves with the type of production that we have been accustomed to seeing in the last couple years. Charlie Morton ended up proving that he still could be a high end starter. Max Fried had one of the best second halves of the season out of any pitchers in the league. Ozzie Albies and Dansby Swanson provided some incredible defense up the middle and provided some unexpected pop on the offensive side. 

This 2021 Atlanta Braves team just seemed like a team of destiny. For that team to be able to continue to win while being doubted throughout almost the whole season really showed what kind of character those guys had. Watching them just flat out beat teams that they were not “supposed” to beat was really something special. Joc Pederson had a whole fanbase wearing fake pearls in the stands because he decided he was going to wear pearls on the field and no one could stop him. Dansby Swanson, the starting shortstop for the Braves, is a hometown guy who grew up in Atlanta. The stories that this Braves team has just made it seem like there was no way that they were going to get beat by any other team, even the 100+ win Dodgers.