HOUSTON — So, this is the Braves team that found a way to match the great Atlanta teams of the 1990s. This team, with no trio of Hall of Fame aces, no legendary manager and no backlog of World Series experience to build on, somehow found a way.
The current edition of Atlanta’s storied ball club could never equal the star power of those forebears, but it has already drawn even with them in championship trophies, achieving in one trip to baseball’s mountaintop what its predecessors could do only once in five tries.
It was the first title for the club since 1995, back when an extraordinary collection of superstar pitchers and multitalented position players, backed by the Hall of Fame Manager Bobby Cox, won the first major championship for the city of Atlanta.