The Atlanta Braves are five and a half games ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies in the battle for the National League Eastern Division pennant. Their magic number (the combination of Braves’ wins and Phillies’ losses that would give the Braves the championship) is seven.
The last time the Braves won their division was 2013.
They’ve been in rebuilding mode since then. The conventional wisdom going into this
season was that the team was at least another year away from being serious
contenders. My expert opinion was that if everything went just right, the
Braves might win close to half their games. The conventional wisdom was wrong.
So was I.
Veteran players like Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis have
had outstanding seasons. Youngsters like Ronald Acuña, Ozzie Albies, Dansby
Swanson, and Johan Camargo have contributed greatly. By the way, if Acuña doesn’t win
the National League’s Rookie of the Year award, they should do away with it.
While I’m on the subject of awards, I’d say the same thing about the Manager of
the Year award if Brian Snitker doesn’t win it.
It’s been a long time since the Braves played meaningful
games in September. Whether they make the playoffs or not (oh how I hope they
do), this has been the most fun of any season since that of the worst-to-first
team of 1991. I’m grateful, as all Braves fans should be.
I’ve been a Braves fan since the franchise moved from
Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966. That season, my parents took me to Atlanta
Stadium, which held ten times the population of my hometown of Barnesville, to see a game. The
Braves won, and I was hooked. I’ve followed them closely ever since.
We who have followed the Atlanta Braves from the beginning
know what it’s like to go through cycles of winning and losing. They were about
a .500 team during their first three seasons (1966-68). Then in 1969, which was
the first year of divisional play, they won the Western Division pennant but
lost to the New York Mets three games to none in the playoffs. From 1970-81,
they never finished within shouting distance of first place. They came out of nowhere
to win the West in 1982, but lost the playoff series to the St. Louis Cardinals
three games to none. After a decent season in 1983, they went into a tailspin
that saw them finish in last place in four out of seven seasons, including
1990.
But in 1991, the Braves won the Western Division
championship and defeated the Eastern Division champion Pittsburgh Pirates in
the National League championship series. They went on to lose the World Series
in a classic seven-game matchup with the Minnesota Twins. This kicked off an
amazing string of fourteen consecutive division titles (they’ve been in the
Eastern Division since the 1994 realignment), four National League
championships, and, in 1995, the Atlanta Braves’ only World Series
Championship.
It’s been a mixed bag since the division championship streak
ended in 2005. They won their division in 2013 and made the playoffs as a wild
card team in 2010 and 2012. The three seasons leading up to the present one
were bad, with records of 67-95 (2015), 68-93 (2016), and 72-90 (2017).
That brings us to the current season, which has been
surprisingly successful. A winning season following several losing ones always
feels like it comes out of nowhere. In fact, the team’s management has been
laying the groundwork for such success by developing and following a long-term
plan. If all goes well, this Braves season will be the first in a series of
successful ones.
We who have been watching and participating in American
politics know that the country also goes through cycles of winning and losing. We’ve
endured a couple of years of serious losing. I’m optimistic that the groundwork
has been laid for a turn in 2018 and 2020 toward better leadership.
So go Braves!
And go 2018 and 2020 candidates who will offer effective,
principled, civil, compassionate, and decent leadership!
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