Editor’s note: Nov. 2 is the three-year anniversary of the Braves clinching the 2021 World Series championship with a Game 6 win over the Astros in Houston. The AJC looks back on that moment in Braves history.
Every Braves fan remembers where they were – and what they felt – three years ago.
It was the shot heard around the south, Jorge Soler’s monstrous home run that emphatically produced the realization that the seemingly impossible was about to be reality.
It was Max Fried’s finest hour, when he overcame having his ankle stepped on and tossed six masterful innings.
It was Freddie Freeman’s final bit of glory as a Brave, when he homered in his final at-bat and caught the game-ending out at first base.
The Braves became World Series champions again exactly 36 months from Saturday, completing one of the greatest – and unlikeliest – stories of resiliency in a sport that certainly doesn’t lack them. A franchise littered with playoff failures since 1996, and down its best player, achieved immortality with a homegrown infield, outfield of journeymen, and a preposterously brilliant bullpen.
Where does the story begin? Truthfully, probably on July 10, 2021. After all, everything before that feels forgettable given the Braves were just slogging along. But to summarize:
Michael Soroka was expected back in late April; he re-tore his Achilles. Slugger Marcell Ozuna, re-signed after his prolific 2020 campaign, broke his fingers and then was arrested for domestic violence in May. Catcher Travis d’Arnaud was sidelined for months due to a torn ligament in his thumb, forcing the Braves to go through a plethora of backstops. Youngster Cristian Pache, viewed as a crucial part of the team’s future, struggled mightily and was demoted to the minors. The bullpen had issues, including signee Shane Greene, who was eventually dropped in August.
The Braves were eight games out in the National League East on June 16, sporting a 30-35 record. They closed the gap by the first half’s close, yet there was little reason for optimism.
Back to that fateful July 10.
Outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. tore his ACL in Miami just before the all-star break. The Braves, already a disappointment, seemed doomed. Their mega star was done for the season. They were 44-45, sporting a plus-19 run differential but appearing quite pedestrian. While they didn’t feel “out of it,” it certainly felt like this wasn’t their year.
“When you lose the guys we lost, everyone has doubts,” first baseman Freddie Freeman later admitted. “Things were piling on at the all-star break.”
Before the second half began, president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos completed one of the most iconic transactions of his career. He acquired veteran outfielder Joc Pederson from the Cubs. He wanted his team to know he still believed in them – the run differential and weak National League East played a role there – and Pederson, a former Dodger, arrived enthusiastic about the opportunity to win.
Anthopoulos after completing the trade:
“Right now, our focus is on adding if we can. Things can change at any time, that goes without saying. But our focus right now - as banged up as we’ve been - is if we can add where it makes sense, we’ll certainly look to do it. We’re optimistic. We’re going to get more guys back from the (injured list) and that should only improve our club. But again, we have important games. Every game counts, and I think anytime we can strengthen the ballclub, we’re gonna look to do it.”
In the games leading to the July 30 trade deadline, the Braves still hadn’t looked like a contender. They were 51-53 at the deadline, five games behind the Mets and one behind the Phillies in their own division. Still, they kept buying.
Anthopoulos acknowledges his genius was largely luck, but however one categorizes it, he conducted one of the greatest trade deadlines in history. The Braves acquired old friend Adam Duvall from Miami, along with Eddie Rosario – in what amounted to a Cleveland salary dump – and Soler, an underwhelming Royals slugger who’d notably shown signs of life recently. They essentially remade their outfield with lottery tickets, hoping each acquisition could provide something as the team strived for a postseason berth.
At last, in game No. 110, the team that alternated wins and losses for the first 18 games of the second half had obtained a winning record (the Braves had lost on their six previous attempts to move above .500). The team took off in August with an 18-8 record. It entered September 70-62, two games up in the division, and looked nothing like its earlier version.
The Braves won seven of 10 on a west coast trip later in September, success that shortstop Dansby Swanson and others said helped give them belief this team could be exceptional. The Braves wrapped up their division title against the Phillies.
“Not to take anything away from those other teams, but this is by far the most special (division) title,” Anthopoulos said. Swanson added: “I’ve never been part of a season that had as much adversity as this one had. But I feel like that’s a good characteristic for this team, to battle and fight for everything. I feel like we’ve earned every bit of what we have this year. That’s a good thing going into the postseason.”
The Braves faced the Brewers in the NL Division Series, dropping Game 1 before winning three straight. Freeman’s homer off All-Star reliever Josh Hader to win Game 4 was the biggest highlight, though Pederson homered twice and had four RBIs in the series. The Braves earned an NL Championship Series rematch against the Dodgers, who’d overcome a 3-1 series deficit a year earlier – in Arlington due to the pandemic – to shatter the Braves’ hearts.
Soler’s home run in Houston is the most memorable moment from this run, but almost all the others occurred against Los Angeles. The Braves earned back-to-back walk-off wins to start the series – remember, they had homefield since the 104-win Dodgers fell a game short in the NL West of a stunningly good Giants team – courtesy of third baseman Austin Riley and Rosario.
The Braves took one of three in Los Angeles, putting them in a similar spot to a year earlier: a 3-1 lead, one victory from a pennant. A timely chance for the team to live up to its social media motto at the time: #killthenarrative. Then came the first of two spectacular Game 6s. Rosario, who had the series of his life, blasted a three-run homer in the fourth to give the Braves a 4-1 lead.
The team protected its lead thanks to lefty Tyler Matzek’s all-time masterful appearance. The Dodgers, down 4-2, had two runners in scoring position with none out. Manager Brian Snitker turned to Matzek, who mowed down Albert Pujols, Steven Souza Jr. and Mookie Betts to escape the inning. His three strikeouts, and especially his dominance of Betts with three straight 97-mph-or-better fastballs, led him to provide an iconic emotional reaction.
Matzek, who’d pitched in nine of the team’s 10 postseason games, logged another scoreless inning before Will Smith, the much-maligned closer who had a perfect October, finished the game. Rosario was named NLCS MVP after going 14-for-25 (.560) with three homers, a double, triple and nine RBIs.
The Braves went from a club once eight games back to one representing the NL in the Fall Classic against MLB’s villains, the Astros. The season that wasn’t became the October that finally was, as The Atlanta Journal-Constitution described it.
“I think this might be the definition of pure joy,” Freeman said.
The Braves took Game 1 in Houston – Soler opened the series with a homer – but the happiness was subdued after starter Charlie Morton broke his leg. The Astros pounded the Braves in the second game, sending the series back to Atlanta where the Braves hadn’t yet lost in the postseason.
Ian Anderson was effectively wild, pitching five no-hit innings, as the Braves managed a 2-0 win. Game 4 provided the pivotal sequence of the series: Trailing 2-0 through five frames, the Braves scored three times across the sixth and seventh innings. Soler and Swanson belted back-to-back homers in the seventh, and so the later – an Atlanta area native – won the game for his hometown team with a homer to left off Cristian Javier.
Braves pitching held the Astros to an 0-for-10 result with runners in scoring position across the two games. Who could forget that Dylan Lee, an unheralded left-handed reliever, started Game 4 as the first of six relievers who gave Swanson and company a chance?
“I can’t say enough about our bullpen,” Snitker said. “My God. I’m going to talk to ownership and send them all to Hawaii for a week when we’re done.”
It set up an enticing situation: Clinching at home on Halloween, with The Battery ripe to explode. That seemed an inevitability after Duvall’s early grand slam, but the Braves’ pitching finally faltered and the series shifted back to Houston – three years ago from Saturday.
And for the second time since the Braves moved to Atlanta in 1966, the team secured its championship in a Game 6. Like Tom Glavine in 1995, Fried was terrific. His six scoreless innings remain the highlight of his career.
Soler secured World Series MVP in style with what’s perhaps now the most iconic home run in franchise history. He blasted Luis Garcia’s pitch to the train tracks, eliciting endless gasps, yells, cheers and jeers extending well beyond Minute Maid Park. Statcast estimated the home run went 446 feet, which always felt like an undersell.
The Braves kept adding on. Swanson homered again. Freeman, in what turned out to be his final at-bat as the face of the franchise, homered. Smith, a Newnan native, finished his flawless month with a 1-2-3 ninth. The game ended when Yuli Gurriel grounded out to Swanson, who appropriately fired the ball to Freeman.
It was a blissful moment for so many, including Snitker, who joined Hall of Famer Bobby Cox as Atlanta Braves managers to oversee championship clubs. “I can’t wait to take that trophy back and show (Cox),” Snitker said. “It’s something you dream about, but I don’t know that you ever feel like it’s going to be a reality, honestly.”
Pederson, Duvall, Soler and Rosario have since played for other franchises (some have returned, though without sustained success). Freeman and Swanson signed with NL competitors (the latter just won 2024 World Series MVP with the Dodgers). Several other key figures are long gone. Yet every player and coach associated with the 2021 Braves will always be adored.
“Braves Country, we did it,” Snitker said to the Truist Park crowd following the celebratory parade. “We are world champions. I’m sure myself and every one of these guys up here want to thank you for your support, the energy that you provided us all year long. I’ll reiterate like I told these guys the other night, ‘Boys (Snitker looked at his players), you are world champions for the rest of your life. Congrats. Congratulations.’ And thank you Braves Country.”
The years since have further illuminated how exceptional that October was. The Braves were tremendous in their title-defense season only to fizzle out in Philadelphia. They were even better the following season yet once again floundered against the Phillies. In 2024, an unrelenting injury bug and some inconsistent performances spoiled that on-paper seemed an incredible team.
But the 2021 championship lives forever. It was among the grandest developments in franchise history and certainly one of the all-time best in Atlanta sports. What an experience it was; three whole years ago.
THE REST OF THE STORY
Mark Bradley: https://www.ajc.com/sports/mark-bradley/the-2021-braves-the-team-that-rode-the-lightning/Y4C2E666WRCIBPAPYWKEDKO4PE/
Holy bleeping bleep: https://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-braves/some-home-runs-you-feel-forever-holy-bleeping-bleep/7FNTXX6UZVB7JFDBSPKXMOESII/
Return to Houston: https://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-braves/brian-snitker-on-return-to-houston-the-last-time-i-was-here-it-was-a-pretty-good-time/LG5WSSQNCZAY5NEYGPLQL6MY2A/
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