During three decades of nearly uninterrupted excellence, there were so many Atlanta Braves teams that seemed more championship worthy than this one.
The 1993 squad chased down the San Francisco Giants to win one of baseball’s last great division races. The ’96 group wiped out the New York pinstripers in the first two games of the World Series at Yankee Stadium. The ’97, ‘98 and ‘99 teams all won more that 100 games.
Yet it was these Braves — who didn’t climb above .500 until early August, who endured a devastating rash of injuries and other setbacks, who had to wheel and deal ahead of the trade deadline to assemble a whole new outfield — who finally brought the tortured A-T-L another title.