Will the Atlanta Braves be the Cinderella of a striking postseason?
How about these Major League Baseball playoffs! Close games, two grand slam home runs by the same team in one of them, and five walk-off victories, two in a row from teams both born in Boston.
The Red Sox dispatched Tampa Bay, the American League’s best team in the divisional series, and the Braves did the same to the Brewers from their first city after leaving Beantown. Then they took the first two games of the National League Championship Series over their old nemesis, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Braves struggled for most of the regular season, losing their star and MVP candidate Ronald Acuna with a severe knee injury. But they got hot at the right time and fought off the Phillies and Mets to run away with the National League East, returning to the playoffs they’ve made more than 20 times since 1991.
Over that span, they have captured only one World Series title, but they are positioned to win another if they can finish the job against the Dodgers after winning the first two games of the NLCS at Truist Field in dramatic fashion.
Both were ninth-inning walk-offs, the first with Austin Riley tying the game on a home run and his single in the ninth that scored Ozzie Albies with the winning run; and the next night using the same recipe. The Braves knocked Dodgers’ ace Max Scherzer out in the fourth inning and tied the game in the seventh.
Then, in a moment that will live in franchise history, trade-deadline addition Eddie Rosario drove in the game winner with his fourth hit of the night. Rosario was acquired from the Indians just in time to be eligible for the playoffs and has filled in nicely for Acuna, who will be back next season and make the Braves the odds-favorite for another National League pennant.
First, they must shake their own curse at Dodgers Stadium, where their recent record is 1-14. All they need is one win in the three games in LA to come back home with two games left to close out the best-of-seven series.
If they can do that, their stout pitching will favor them over the Astros or the Red Sox to bring a second Series championship to the ATL.
Photo via AP Photo/John Bazemore
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