While this World Series overall lacked the drama we associate with the great Series of the past, it was a tight battle between two excellent teams, one that caught fire late in the season and another that played all year long as though they knew they'd be here at the end.
The 2021 Atlanta Braves remind us a great deal of the 2014 and 2012 Giants World Championship teams. Like the 2014 Giants, these Braves won but 88 games, and they made it through the postseason and, especially, the World Series, with about half a starting rotation. No Madison Bumgarner heroics here, but then again the 2014 Giants didn't lose a starter to a fractured fibula mid-Series either. And like the 2012 Giants, these Braves made a series of trade-deadline deals that energized the team down the stretch and through the postseason. This all made it easy for us to pull for them to win it, though as everyone here knows we've great admiration for the Houston Astros team and organization, and for Dusty Baker. But hey, let's give Brian Snitker some major props, too. Four straight division titles, and year by year a steady climb through the postseason until, finally, his team reached the top.
It's no coincidence that our representative photo here shows commissioner Rob Manfred handing the trophy to the Braves. It was Manfred, remember, who shamefully and needlessly disrespected the people of Atlanta and of Georgia with his cowardly decision to knuckle under to a mob of "woke" bullies and pull the All-Star Game out of Atlanta. How fitting and how sweet it is for the Braves and their fans, and how sobering, perhaps, this moment was for him. We had hoped it would happen in Atlanta, but this will do. Dare we hope the pointless and embarrassing politicization of baseball will be rolled back after this?
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