The N.L. East is the true beast of the east, and probably (not possibly) the best division in all of Major League Baseball (Sorry A.L. East, you have been replaced). The New York Mets just had one of the best off-seasons of all off-seasons, as far as one can look back, reuniting Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer (who are both approaching 4,000 career strikeouts), not to mention all the other additions on top of that. You got the returning National League Champions in the Philadelphia Phillies, who had an impressive off-season of their own, only improving their chances for another shot at a world title. Even the Miami Marlins might end up being baseball's best 4th place team in 2023.
And then there's Atlanta...
These Atlanta Braves are so well-ran from top to bottom, that they could be a dominating force for another decade. Alex Anthopoulos (Atlanta's President, Baseball Ops & GM) is easily one of the top three General Managers in the game of baseball. They still have a banging farm system that continues to grow talent. They also seem to know what pieces to bring in, and how to turn players that appear to be going nowhere into absolute gold.
You actually can't guarantee the same with the Mets and the Phillies. Sure the new owner for the Mets is not afraid to spend, and Phillies fans are excited for the first time since their 2007-2011 period, where they were the force to reckon with in those days. But if you know anything about Phillies baseball like most Philly fans know, they have a history of not being a stable consistent winner -- Many more down seasons than up seasons. The Mets are New York's lovable, unlucky baseball team that continues to find any possible way to break their fans' hearts over and over, especially when there are high expectations placed upon that club.
The Braves have also been extending contracts in an impressive way, paying them early and stretch that money over the contract. If down the road some of these stars with these long contracts don't work out, they can easily trade them with these tradable contracts. Get more prospects out of each one, and continue to produce and acquire talent, and then repeat by extending those contracts. I can't even find the words to explain how genius this whole plan is and will continue to be.
Twenty years from now, we may look back at this period in Atlanta Braves history as the best period in their franchise history, and yes, even with the extended postseason. I know that sounds crazy, I know it's a bold statement considering that the Atlanta Braves from 1991-2005 won 14 straight division titles, and that they had pretty much had the best starting pitcher trio in the entire history of Major League Baseball in Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz.
I know that's a lot to take in, but consider this, they have now won 5 straight division titles and counting, and already have a matching World Series title of their own. Last year, they lose Freddie Freeman in free agency to the Los Angeles Dodgers... no big deal, the Braves brought in Matt Olson from Oakland on a trade. This off-season they let shortstop Dansby Swanson go sign with the Cubs... no big deal, they have Vaughn Grissom coming up behind him. Austin Riley has only improved the last few years, while new stars like Michael Harris II stepped in flawlessly to go along with the talent that already have in Ronald Acuna Jr, Ozzie Albies, and company -- plus they made a great trade in acquiring backstop Sean Murphy from the Athletics, and extended him.
To be fair to the 90's bunch, I would say although today's players might be in better physical shape and have all the sabermetrics to help them with techniques on the mound and at the plate -- I believe the sport was loaded with more talented players then today's game. Back in the 90's, just think of the pitchers on the mound: Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Mike Mussina, Curt Schilling, Kevin Brown, David Cone, while the Braves had the big three. There has not been many teams since the Braves to be blessed with 3 close-to-great pitchers even... The Phillies put together Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt & Cole Hamels briefly, and that never lived up to what they thought it would be. If you look at today's game, there's Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Shohei Ohtani, Gerrit Cole, Jacob deGrom (if healthy), Walker Buehler (if he comes back healthy) and fading Clayton Kershaw, with Corbin Burnes and Sandy Alcantra joining the party. In the 90's I left out a bunch of other names that were solid pitchers, you could throw a dart and hit any team, and most likely they had a solid starter.
Given that, the 90's hitters were no different.
Those 90's Braves had to contend against possibly the best dynasty in MLB history (or at least late Modern history) in the New York Yankees from 1996-2003 (although the last title was actually 2001 with that bunch, the 2009 team was a different Yanks team altogether). Plus the Cleveland Indians were a strong franchise in the 90's, the Seattle Mariners had their moments, plus competitive bunches in the mid-90's Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros, and Montreal Expos, then the later-90's Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks -- but let's face it the 90's Braves were just in the wrong period with those Yankees being around, who affected everyone.
Although you can't compare eras, it's probably the toughest to even try to launch a dynasty in today's game with the expanded playoffs and the endless possibilities of falling short, even if you are spectacular. The Houston Astros may be the closest to have the possibility of being called a dynasty, but it's hard to declare what is now considered a dynasty in today's game. So it depends who you ask, which would highly be debated. The San Francisco Giants won World Series in 2010, 2012 & 2014, but missed the playoffs altogether in the in-between years, 2011 and 2013. A dynasty has to be postseason consistent don't you think? It can't be -- On, Off, On, Off, On! Offffffff...
But that's another post and debate to have some other time.
But let's do look back at the Braves recent stretch...
The Braves hired Brian Snitker as their manager in 2016, after firing Fredi Gonzalez midway throught the season. The team doesn't do much better in 2017, and many were thinking the Braves may still be a year or two away from making noise entering Spring Training 2018. The Braves would go on to win the N.L. East with a 90-72 record.
So with that --
- 2018 - Division Champs (90-72), Lost NLDS to the Dodgers (3-1).
- 2019 - Division Champs (97-65), Lost NLDS to the Cardinals (3-2).
- 2020 - Division Champs (35-25) (Pandemic Season), and lost the NLCS to the Dodgers, coming up short, 4-3. The Dodgers were of course shaking at the time, after being upset by the Washington Nationals the season before. Dodgers would hang on, and then go on to win the World Series.
- 2021 - Division Champs, N.L. Champs & World Series Champions (88-73). The Atlanta Braves wouldn't break the .500 mark until August 6th (at 56-55), the latest for any World Series Champion to do so in Major League history. The Braves got revenge on the Dodgers in the NLCS by defeating them 4-2 in the series. If you noticed, the Braves and Dodgers have a bit of a rivalry in recent years, and you even go back to 2013 when the Braves lost in the NLDS under Gonzalez, 3-1. One last note the Braves would go 44-23 (counting the postseason) from August 6th, on their way to defeating the Houston Astros.
- 2022 - The Atlanta Braves won one of the two top seeds, by winning their division and having the 2nd best record in the National League by winning 101 games. The Braves would be knocked out by the eventual N.L. Champion Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1.
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