After winning the best of seven world series, the Atlanta Braves are the World Series champion. Even though the Astros didn’t cheat like last time, the Braves deserve a closer look into the challenges they faced this season. — Editor Ike Spry
By Roman Rickwood, Sports Enthusiast
The Atlanta Braves are your World Series Champions for the 2021 Major League Baseball season. They won the best of 7 series in six games, beating the Houston Astros in 4-2, winning the final game 7-0. This was a true team effort throughout the entire organization. The Atlanta Braves didn’t even have a winning record until late August.
To me the most amazing thing that the Braves did this season was complete a rebuild of their outfield midseason at the trade deadline. At the deadline, the Braves were dealing with injuries and absences of key players on their team, those main players being right fielder Ronald Acuna and Center fielder Marcel Ozuna. Ronald Acuna suffered a torn ACL early in the season and Marcel Ozuna was facing legal issues off the field and was suspended by the MLB. At the deadline, the Braves completed many trades in order to fill those critical holes, like adding designated hitter Jorge Soler (World series MVP), center fielder Adam Duvall (NL hitting champion), left fielder Eddie Rosario (NLCS MVP), and of course none other than right fielder Joc Pederson. What did they have to give up to get these incredible players? Almost nothing! Both Eddie Rosario and Jorge Soler, believe it or not, were not heavily sought after players, and the Braves easily acquired both of them–and boy did it pay off.
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With the help of incredible pitching from the Braves’ pitching staff and some incredible plays from the Braves’ infield, they managed to beat the best team in baseball, the Dodgers, and then advance to the World Series to deliver a deserved beating to the Houston Astros. This is one of the more improbable teams to win the World Series considering their overall performance in the regular season. It is a true testament to the importance of getting hot at the right time.