2021 World Series Atlanta Braves vs. Houston Astros

i'm back as i had to sit out last round

Fuck the Astros

These are two national league teams

Astros in 6, as i'm 100% for Dusty Baker this year

Somehow I’m going to have to bring myself to root for fucking Atlanta ???

oddly i want to see dusty win a chip also now, if its gotta be w/ houston so be it

Same: Houston for Dusty Baker. 1993, 2002, 2003, 2016, 2017--he's had some miserable luck, whether of his own making or otherwise. But he deserves to be a HOF manager, and this would seal it.

i was going to make just a Dusty Baker option but decided to stay professional

Even S a fan I can’t bring myself to believe the barves are taking this. Stros in 5.

Even as fan I can’t bring myself to believe the barves are taking this. Stros in 5.

no to both of these teams, the world series of 2021 has been cancelled

rooting for america's team (astros)

These Braves are reminding me of the 2010 Giants, another team that was middling around .500 for a lot of the season, made some sneaky good trade acquisitions, all of whom got red hot in time for the playoffs.

The Astros are better on paper but the Braves are a legit threat right now.

Astros are eviler – so them probably.

That big dude for the Astros Valdez does get some crazy movement on his pitches. I had not seen him pitch until this playoffs, but his stuff is pretty wild and he has such a funky Johnny Cueto/El Duque delivery meets Big Sexy - he is pretty entertaining to watch.

One of the talking heads on ESPN said that the 'Stros management was kinda sneaky in hiring Baker because they are there now and there is a general 'feel good' about him perhaps finally winning it all.

NY Times had a good article on Ron Washington coaching 3rd for the Bravos. Dude hits fungos like a mad man every day, my shoulders hurt just from the description of the work he does every day with their infielders.

The Braves and Astros used to be in the same division, the NL West, and now they're facing each other in the series. Has that happened before?

I was thinking about that last night. I don't think it has, but I always wait for the more dedicated ILBers to check for me.

Hate this world series but after much discussion with my son we've decided to grudgingly go for the Astros

The Braves and Astros used to be in the same division, the NL West, and now they're facing each other in the series. Has that happened before?

― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Monday, October 25, 2021 11:33 AM (twenty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

The tragedy is we could have had the same thing this year but with a Brewers / Blue Jays World Series, which would have been 100x more enjoyable than what we're getting.

the seahawks and broncos, who met in super bowl XLVIII, used to play together in the AFC west

(sorry morbs, sorry everyone)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

https://tvanswerman.com/2021/10/25/will-all-world-series-games-be-in-4k-hdr/

i'm going to try the app to watch in 4K or 1080p upscaled

so we're really doing this huh

racists buy things too

More Manfred on the Braves name: "We don’t market our game on a nationwide basis. Ours is an everyday game. You’ve gotta sell tickets every single day to the fans in that market. And there are all sorts of differences between the regions in terms of how the teams are marketed.”

— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) October 26, 2021

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

RIP Stros

What a start

Good results

they are playing Phish

Is Valdez tipping his pitches?

Bang on the drum all day

Can't believe Soler's HR was the absolute first to lead off a World Series (meaning the top of the 1st).

https://www.mlb.com/news/jorge-soler-leadoff-home-run-world-series-game-1

if i had just read that in a tweet, i would not have believed it.

third time neither game 1 starter has gotten through three

damnit Swanson why didn't you ever do that against Milwaukee

Wow,at the Morton news

Morton out remainder of WS from that comebacker

whoa, that really sucks for him

surprised that error on the would-be double play didn't cost Atlanta more. typically that's something that turns a game around

You want to talk about tough: Charlie Morton struck out Chas McCormick, got Martin Maldonado to line out and struck out Jose Altuve pitching on a broken leg.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 27, 2021

how the hell is that possible

Is a fracture the same as broken?

yes

Well that was a goofy infield hit

How can they not get him out ar home?

Weak arm, horrible throw

Lol that would’ve been out in nearly every other park

Rosario is an amazing player, what the hell are the Garidians thinking letting him go

*Guardians

Gardenias

because rosario will be a free agent in 10 days

Game 2

Much better start

Last night I forgot about 4K, today I signed in and watching my first 4K sporting event

Pretty sweet to look at tbh

Last year's Super Bowl was not available in 4K for Android TV they have upgraded that this year

feel like that's an out basically always in the regular season, cool that they finally got this right

Maybe this is a hangover from the Jays' near-miss, but I haven't had any interest in this series thus far.

(I'm always posting about not watching a lot of baseball, but I usually make an exception for the WS.)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/10/28/braves-chop-world-series-atlanta/

When the World Series shifts to Atlanta for Game 3 on Friday night, television viewers will see a pocket of resistance. While other professional sports franchises have backed away from or removed ties to Native American imagery, the Atlanta Braves have retrenched. In late innings and key moments, fans yell a faux war chant and swing their arms in a ritual known as the “tomahawk chop.” At Truist Park, which opened in 2017, a giant neon tomahawk beyond the center field fence slashes along with the crowd. Fans can dine at the Coors Light Chop House overlooking right field.

After years of colleges and high schools retiring Native American mascots, sometimes as required under state law, the past 18 months have seen a change at the highest level of sports. Under pressure from corporate sponsors in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the national reckoning it sparked, the Washington Football Team ditched its former name, which is defined as a slur. The Cleveland Indians, who already had banished their caricature logo, will be known as the Guardians starting next year.

With the World Series spotlight on the franchise for the first time since 1999, the Braves are viewed by advocates as a holdout amid an overdue cultural shift, clinging to a name that offends and dehumanizes a minority group out of deference to fan loyalty and branding.

“It’s incredibly frustrating,” said Crystal Echo Hawk, CEO of advocacy group IllumiNative. “It used to be, ‘This would be almost impossible; this would be millions and millions of dollars’ — all the things the teams traditionally have thrown up as these barriers and these excuses. Now we have two major teams who have gone through this and literally thousands of schools across the country. The time is now. … It’s just really mind-boggling to watch Atlanta really dig in on this.”

Commissioner Rob Manfred made MLB’s stance clear with comments ahead of Game 1 against the Houston Astros on Tuesday, saying baseball is marketed locally and the sport must align itself with the preferences of local consumers. He said the Braves have done a “phenomenal job” of outreach to local Native American communities, the largest of which supports the Braves financially and culturally.

“The Native American community in that region is wholly supportive of the Braves’ program, including the chop,” Manfred said. “For me, that’s kind of the end of the story.”

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the largest local tribe in the Atlanta region, has a long-standing relationship with the Braves, Principal Chief Richard Sneed said. It once manufactured tourist items such as tomahawks and bows and arrows, which it sold to the Braves to offer at souvenir stands. As revenue from its ownership of a casino pulled the tribe out of poverty, its relationship with the Braves changed. It is now a corporate sponsor.

The Braves declined to make anyone available for comment on the name but emphasized their efforts to connect with Native Americans in the area and honor them with exhibits at Truist Park.

Sneed viewed his tribe’s relationship with the team as “a platform” to tell the story of Cherokee culture. In July, the Braves held Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Night at Truist Park, where Sneed said tribal elders were treated “like royalty.” This year, the Braves sold T-shirts with a word that translated roughly to “ballplayer” in Cherokee syllabary; the proceeds supported the tribe’s language immersion program.

...The Braves are not alone in pro sports; the NFL has the Kansas City Chiefs, whose fans also do the chop. But baseball, both inside and outside Atlanta, has ceded ground in the debate. As it evaluated its name, Cleveland canvassed Native Americans and found “the name can make it especially challenging for children to find a place for their Native identity in the community around them.” In 2019, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Ryan Helsley, who is a member of the Cherokee Nation, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that seeing the tomahawk chop was “disappointing.”

“I think it’s a misrepresentation of the Cherokee people or Native Americans in general,” Helsley said during the Cardinals’ National League Division Series matchup with the Braves that year. “Just depicts them in this kind of caveman-type people way who aren’t intellectual. They are a lot more than that. It’s not me being offended by the whole mascot thing. It’s not. It’s about the misconception of us, the Native Americans, and how we’re perceived in that way or used as mascots.”

hi, i'm joe buck! before we start playing game 3, i just wanted to say,

Team names are only part of the issue. Fans have attended Braves games in redface and headdresses. Echo Hawk and Payment noted that opposing fans will use slurs and offensive stereotypes. “Somebody starts blurting out, ‘Scalp the Indians,’ or, ‘Feed them whiskey and send them back to the res,’ ” Payment said.

“When you think about the global viewership of the World Series and you suddenly see tens of thousands of fans engaging in that behavior and suddenly you’ve got that being mimicked back to our children and our communities, it is so deeply offensive and harmful, and it makes our children oftentimes feel ashamed of who they are,” Echo Hawk said. “We are constantly reduced to these dehumanizing caricatures and stereotypes and not seen for who we are today.”

Payment imagined a stadium full of fans implored to act as if performing a minstrel show. The public response would be swift and condemnatory, and the ritual would be halted immediately. The only difference with the chop, Payment argued, is that society fails to recognize Native Americans as part of the U.S. population.

“We have objectified Indians as a relic of the past,” Payment said. “A lot of people don’t have a clue we exist still. They don’t think about how it might affect Native American youth or people.”

Payment believes those who want the Braves to keep their name already have lost and don’t know it yet.

“It’s just a matter of time,” he said. “Some of the people involved with the decision-making of the Atlanta team are going to look back and say, ‘Oh, my God.’ The grandchild of the owners today are going to say: ‘Boy, Grandpa was a racist. He didn’t realize it, but he was a racist.’ I think it’s just a matter of time.”

-- now let's play some baseball!

Someone make a new hot stove thread please. I can't think of a funny title.

Sources: The Padres and Bob Melvin have agreed to a three-year deal to make Melvin the next manager in San Diego.

— AJ Cassavell (@AJCassavell) October 28, 2021

Holy moly I didn't think he was leaving Oakland for a long time

Apparently the A's are cutting costs again. He made too much money.

Didn’t they extend him not long ago? I think dude would just rather manage a team that is spending money.

Yeah he was signed for this year, and yet they let the Padres take him without compensation. Curious

They also have a huge class of arbitration-eligible players:

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/09/athletics-trade-rumors-payroll-arbitration-olson-chapman-manaea-bassitt.html

these could be the final three games of pitchers hitting

we'll still have ohtani

wanna say I'll miss it but I suspect it'll be one of those things I just never think of again

yeah, it'll probably be fine. but really, end of an era

To not experience the joy of a Todd Stottlemyre running the bases, that'll be tough.

Logan Webb hit a home run in his last at bat in the regular season

oh yeah, the Giants had Madison Bumgarner too

i will miss the old rules and strategy but yeah most of the time is sucked

Just in case my post makes no sense, I finally found a good clip of this:

https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/video/stottlemyre-on-his-famous-slide-c2372168183

One of my favourite baseball moments ever. Love Stottlemyre's "Yup."

I like pitching duels

Good call, I would have called that a strike

Didn't matter, why swing at that pitch

Big moment

Should have the third baseman got to that ball?

No

I'm bored obviously, anyone want to join me tonight?

Huge out

Wow

3 2/3

5

Don't agree that Anderson being taken out without giving up a hit

Yeah it seems like no starting pitcher is allowed to go deep in the postseason anymore

i think it’s a little odd considering they’re headed for back-to-back bullpen games, but also he was throwing as many balls as strikes and was never going to go the distance

So far it’s all justified.

jesus.
he could have made that catch right?

yeah kinda shocked he didn't but I think the SS backing up on him caused his brain to malfunction

Matzek has just been unreal

is that the first actual hit by Houston

The second!

oh they called that a hit lol

Excellent teaser from Joe Posnanski: "6th inning: Atlanta manager Brian Snitker took Anderson out of the game after five innings even though he had (1) not allowed a hit and (2) only thrown 76 pitches. I do have a lot to say about this — like A LOT to say about this, like a BOOK-LENGTH amount to say about this — but books take a while to write, and so for now let’s stay focused on the game and the way the Braves somehow shut down this brilliant offense."

(I was hoping for the no-hitter so I could have come on here and posted that it was the most exciting thing I'd seen since six Raptors combined for 101 points.)

Sheehan:

Ian Anderson got the first 15 outs, and while he did not give up a hit -- we’ll get to that -- he wasn’t dominant. To pick just one number, Anderson had a CSW% of 29%, which per the stat’s creator, Alex Fast, is just “okay.” (CSW% is simple: the rate of called and swinging strikes as a percentage of pitches thrown.) The Astros did have trouble squaring up Anderson; he allowed just three hard-hit balls, and only one batted ball with an expected batting average of even .300. Eyeballing more conventional numbers, Anderson walked three and struck out four, hardly the hallmarks of a dominant performance, and at no point watching him did I think I was watching a dominant performance.

The dominance would come after Anderson left. Four Braves relievers combined for 12 outs, striking out three, walking no one (hitting one batter) and shutting out the Astros to finish out a 2-0 win.

and more:

I almost don’t want to engage on the decision to pull Ian Anderson after five innings, because I think the people rending their garments over it are arguing in bad faith. They’re ignoring what was clear from watching Anderson, what’s clear from watching playoff games in recent years, what’s clear from watching baseball in 2021. Pitching requires so much effort now that completing nine innings under benign circumstances is a difficult task. Doing it in the playoffs, at the end of a seven-month season, against postseason lineups tuned to maximum performance, is nearly impossible. Doing it when you have rested and ready teammates who haven’t thrown 70, 80, 90 pitches is folly.

The no-hitter is just not relevant to me. That cannot be part of Snitker’s thinking at all, not least because the chance that Ian Anderson was going to finish last night’s game is fiction. Snitker’s job is to win a game, to win a championship, not be part of baseball’s culture war over The Diminishing Role of the Starting Pitcher. At some point, a segment of the baseball world decided that starting pitchers are star quarterbacks, and it just isn’t so, not least because star quarterbacks play every game.

I’ve said this a few times now, and I will repeat it: Pitching in the modern baseball playoffs is the hardest pitching there has ever been. Stop comparing what these pitchers are asked to do with the rest of baseball history, even history as recent as six or seven years ago. Whoever your particular heroes are...Ford, Gibson, Morris...they’d be maxing out at seven innings and averaging 5 2/3 the same way the guys we’re watching are.

Anderson had thrown 76 pitches, and even at a startling ten pitches an inning over the next three would have been at 106 entering the ninth. That would have been the third time in 38 career starts, postseason included, that Anderson threw more than 100 pitches in a game. His career high, set in May, is 110, and he had not reached 100 pitches in a start since then. More likely, of course, is that Anderson would have needed another 15 pitches an inning, pushing him over 100 in the seventh, to 120 in the eighth.

Ian Anderson was never finishing this game, so once that’s settled, we’re just haggling over when he leaves. The top of the order the third time around is always a good choice. (Anderson’s tiny sample TTP numbers are far less relevant than what we know about all pitchers the third time around.) Brian Snitker gave the Braves the best chance to win by taking Anderson out when he did. Snitker focusing on anything else -- a no-hitter, entertainment value, pleasing starting-pitcher fetishists -- would have been grounds for firing.

Sheehan otm.

otm

All of which might even be exactly what Joe P. wants to write in his book; at the very least, he's certainly aware of all that--he wrote a column two weeks ago about how much harder it was for Chris Sale to pitch against the Astros in 2021 that for Sandy Koufax to pitch a two-hitter against the Twins in 1965. But, as I've said before, I don't have to like any of it; it just makes the game less interesting. (And yes, I realize that Atlanta's manager isn't there to make the game interesting for me.) The idea that great starting pitching performances in the World Series are a thing of the past--or that they've been so re-defined that they may as well be--is not a happy thought.

Somebody on here said more or less the same thing that I'm saying a few days ago...can't remember who or what thread. It all makes me think of a line from Zodiac: "Just because you can't prove it doesn't mean it's not true." Just because something makes sense doesn't mean I have to like it.

VHS!

I thought I was alone last night so I abandoned this thread

My point last night had to do with two bullpen games in a row

we hardly knew ye, dylan lee

So here we go, bullpen game and only got one out

Impressive to get out of that mess with only one run

Just turned on the game after Lee had been pulled, so I don't know how badly he was missing the plate. I do wonder, though: if this is a guy the Braves want to be part of their future, what does that do to his confidence? Once you decide to start him, you should maybe at least let him give up, I don't know, a run? Lucky Durocher stuck with Willie Mays after his 1-26 start.

God, Trump's there. Nothing to do with the All-Star Game or the chop, I'm sure.

Greinke is looking good

Even if they lose the game, Kyle Wright did a tremendous job saving the ATL bullpen.

saddened that greinke didn't homer, but at least he got a hit

...

well this AB could be the series

yeeeesh how do you take that

Good game

barves starting every AB 0-1 it seems

Wow!

Wow

Unbelievable

Believable.

Whoa!

Nooooooo way

This was their SOP in so many of their wins. Patience, patience, patience, good relief pitching, catch up and win late.

holy shit thought for sure Altuve was gonna tie it there

jorge soler is a large man

Great catch--good enough for the old Altuve smile.

dusty shd drop bregman in the lineup

Houston blew it tonight, they had so many changes to cash in but they didn't

If I had bet $100 on the Braves to win the WS in the second week of August, how much money would I be poised to make now?

lol i was amazed they didn’t start salary dumping the second Acuna hit the DL. They were hot garbage for so long.

NoTime: Braves were 18-1 on August 17.

https://www.si.com/betting/2021/08/17/mlb-futures-betting-odds-update

18-1 odds seemed about right once they moved into first place. I was thinking that the odds would be 50-1 when they were a sub-.500 team not long before that, but on second thought that is too high considering they were never more than a few games out of first in a weak division.

On that same date (August 17), the Cards and Mariners were both 100-1.

Barves were always the only team in the division this year with a + run differential, just a question of whether they'd start converting that to wins.

Already not looking good for Houston!

If Atlanta holds this lead, and not much else happens tonight, imagine this will go down as one of the more forgettable World Series (unless you're a Braves fan, obviously).

Game 3 and 4 were really fun! It does seems like injuries have been the main story nonetheless.

I miss Acuna so much.

Individual games tend to get lost to history if it's a short series.

Panda Sandoval to get his fourth ring?!

There have been just two "Before and After" batter vs pitcher matchups in World Series history (where one player's first name is the other's last name).

They have both come in the last two days:

Chris Martin vs Martin Maldonado, yesterday
Kyle Tucker vs Tucker Davidson, today

— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) November 1, 2021

Letting the pitcher hit seems like a bad choice

That lead did not last nearly as long as I would have expected!

Which one?

The grand slam one

If Atlanta holds this lead, and not much else happens tonight, imagine this will go down as one of the more forgettable World Series (unless you're a Braves fan, obviously).

― clemenza, Sunday, October 31, 2021 7:39 PM (fifty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

getting the feeling that much else will happen tonight

Yeah, I may have jumped the gun there. I just go back and forth--every time I want to root for Freeman and the Braves, that goddamn chant starts.

Grenkie!

I root for Zack who just got a pinch hit single. I at least want him to score

In case you were wondering: if you Google Ian Anderson, pitcher comes up before flautist.

I actually was kinda wondering how often Jethro Tull has been brought up on air

Looks like we have a game after all

always happy to see an intentional walk backfire

Take a swing

I stepped out when the IBB was issued - was there a reasoning for that? Like was the batter really good against Minter?

Man on second and third, first base was open

They probably liked the match up better

I came down with a huge snotty cold yesterday and this is the first time I wish I had a TV in my bedroom. This thing looks like it has 2 more hours to go.

IBB to load the bases with a 1 run lead always seems pretty dumb unless you're specifically trying to get to the pitcher

xxp

Yeah, I get that, but there were 2 outs - it’s not like you’re trying to induce a double play or something. The put was at the plate.

*out

I guess that is why you IBB that guy last time up

Could have gone either way

I like to bet sports myself but these sponsored pop-up ads during the broadcast are pretty gross

Astros had to win this game, then they're got grand slam in the first inning

Agreed, the whole gambling aspect to sports Is gross

Good

In case you were wondering: if you Google Ian Anderson, pitcher comes up before flautist.

if you can make a legit (non incredibly cringy) jethro tull reference i will bow down before you, because i once gave this a lot of thought

Greinke's pinch-hit is the lead story right now on mlb.com. Not complaining, just find it funny.

His career stats are pretty comparable to Martin Maldonado (per 162 games):

Greinke - .225/.262/.336, 6 HR, 60 OPS+
Maldonado - .212/.290/.348, 15 HR, 73 OPS+

The way these things work, Houston's favored for tonight, and would definitely be strong favourites for tomorrow night if they win, but Atlanta's a solid favourite to win the series. If you were a math whiz, I wonder if there's a way to cover your bets so that you're guaranteed to win money no matter what (or do the oddsmakers set it up so that that's not possible?).

If they're doing their jobs right they do!

If I had to bet then, I think I'd go with Houston tonight, and if it goes to a G7, turn around and bet big on Atlanta. Because that would run counter to logic, and sports never goes the way you think it should.

Look at us. Trying to win big money!

These are real pretend bets I've been making here.

Snit in civvies looks like a Sopranos cast member.

https://i.imgur.com/GwOZTj1.png

lol otm

The heads-up play from the barves would have been to notice that the 1B ump didn't make a call either way, and go make the tag.

I am surprised he’s ok after getting ankle stomped.

And ya - Fried should have known better than anyone he needed to touch the bag.

lol Fried is pissed

I had no idea how… emaciated he kinda looks.

Damn, that went to Oklahoma.

soler is strong as hell man

Did it even land?!

Reminds me of some of Ohtanis most ridiculous bombs

sports never goes the way you think it should

My terrible prediction from earlier proves this!

They’re going to show that one woman everytime Atlanta scores a run aren’t they? I WANT MORE VARIETY IN MY SAD HOUSTON FACES!!

Swanson looked so hapless and flailing on the swinging strikes in that AB, then blam.

xp lol

thought that one was going out too

I just got home 20 minutes ago...Is Dusty going to get any grief for this? Has he done (or not done) anything second-guessable?

Naw. His toothpick game has been sharp today.

I had no idea how… emaciated he kinda looks.

― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall),

A little Christian Bale in The Machinist, maybe.

Man, they're about to have a zillion free agents.

i think the only second-guessable thing was when the braves failed to challenge the fried-stomping play at first, which didn't end up mattering

Fried's at 52 pitches btw.

I am looking forward to keeping him next year in our league.

jeez xp

Morbs isn’t here to police our fantasy league chatter now

I'd be very happy if the Atlanta manager leaves Fried (52 pitches) in for a bit, at least until one or two baserunners get on, instead of pulling him for the sake of pulling him. Just as an experiment.

If he doesn't get his Maddux, I'm gonna throw furniture.

we should all be happy he'll qualify for the win

Apparently Brantley would've been safe on appeal at first anyway?

This, from a former minor league umpire, explains why Atlanta didn't challenge. Just because Michael Brantley missed the bag and Max Fried tagged it does not mean there's an out. The fielding team needs to appeal.

Baseball rules sometimes don't make sense. https://t.co/ZnCv7XKQ8U

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 3, 2021

intersting

Honestly, as of today, who remembers Alex Bregman?

Close--glad he didn't exit on a strikeout.

hell yeah Freeman

the cutting to sole barves fans in the stands tomahawk chopping is fucking disgusting.

agree

Yeah the Chop has prevented me for fully enjoying those WS.

it just feels like there’s a deliberate doubling down on their racist associations for the national stage

ATL bullpen for MVP, give 'em all Corvettes.

d'Arnaud or Soler?

could make a case for Freeman - played every game , higher BA, etc.

If it's got to be one person, my vote goes to Matzek.

Thought about Freeman too--really recovered after that horrendous start.

I didn’t realise the only other championship won in Atlanta was actually the Braves back in 1995.

I mean, we call them the Barves for a reason

No but I mean the Hawks and Falcons are evem worse!

I’m just sad Acuna couldn’t be part of this.

I don’t know if Atlanta makes it this far w/o the Acuna injury, actually.

OTM

Why is that? Because Rosario and Soler played instead?

yeah ocuna salavaged their garbage first half- no way the win this all without him

BARVES!!!

Congrats Braves fans! Enjoy it!

Hat-tip to Swanson to considering making the final out at second but choosing to go to Freeman.

Trevor Plouffe called it back in the spring!

Very much enjoying this Braves radio postgame, where they have one of their guys in the dugout doing live on the spot interviews as players and coaches and trophies walk by.

Congrats Braves! They were the best team in the postseason no question, they outplayed all three of their opponents and it wasn't particularly close. Freeman deserved a championship -- it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

All of Soler’s home runs gave the Braves a lead, putting him on a list of only six players who have hit at least three go-ahead home runs in a World Series. The others are Babe Ruth (1926), Lou Gehrig (1928), Gene Tenace (1972), Curtis Granderson (2015) and George Springer in 2017 for the Astros.

Pretty solid list above and beyond the first two guys.

https://www.mlb.com/news/jorge-soler-wins-2021-world-series-mvp

I guess that's kind of tautological--the list of players who've hit three HR period in a WS is probably made up exclusively of good players.

fun stat: the Milwaukee Brewers have made the playoffs 8 times. all 8 times the team that beat them made the World Series. 6 of them won.

don't mind that atlanta won, good run they went on

among the ppl i heard dansby credit in his on field interview were god and the braves analytics staff

xp yet another moral victory for the Crew

so what do we do now for five months?

I think Freeman has edged ahead of his statistical twin Paul Goldschmidt for the HOF.

xp -- get caught up on a LOT of movies.

i actually got curious about something kind of dumb – but have spent the last couple weeks setting up a custom league in OOTP, with each team's roster being every team's all-time greats. I want to see how many times out of 100 (or so), the Yankees dominate the AL, whether the Giants or Dodger turn out more successful and if middle of the road teams like the Jays or Brewers can pull off any first place finishes. I'm about 80% done constructing the lineups.

also i had that same thought last night about Freeman! when setting up rosters for this dumb league I realized Freeman might be the best 1B the Braves have had for any extended period.

Checked an all-time Braves team, and it looks like Freeman for sure; only competition is Fred McGriff for a much shorter time frame.

Big surprise--Freeman and Goldschmidt's postseason stats aren't all that dissimilar! Goldschmidt looks even better, but only half the PA and no titles:

Freeman -- .290/.393/.525, 9 HR (183 PA)
Goldschmidt -- .282/.351/.624, 8 HR (94 PA)

Both with Excel Sports Management...Have they ever been seen in the same room together?

All sorts of Braves-related oddities from Jayson Stark today, including:

• How many teams have started all three outfielders in the game they won the World Series who were literally playing for some other team halfway through that season — or at any point during that season? Who out there guessed none? Good guess!

• And in a related development, how many teams have ever won a World Series in which not a single one of their Opening Day outfielders played in any game of that World Series? That would also be none.

I think Freeman has edged ahead of his statistical twin Paul Goldschmidt for the HOF.
― clemenza, Wednesday, November 3, 2021 11:55 AM

Even with Freeman having a solid year, and quite possibly headed to another WS, Goldschmidt has reasserted his edge: frontrunner for MVP, leading all three slash categories at the moment (plus runs and hits), not making news with agent problems. These two guys are something else.

goldy looks promising

JAWS
  First Base (23rd):
    55.5 career WAR | 42.3 7yr-peak WAR | 48.9 JAWS | 5.8 WAR/162
  Average HOF 1B (out of 23):
    65.5 career WAR | 42.1 7yr-peak WAR | 53.8 JAWS | 4.9 WAR/162

Honestly I think stories like freeman’s agent problems, might actually help goldschmidt. Anything to get his name out there would help.

Goldschmidt remains the most anonymous future HOFer I can remember. No idea what he even looks like

I think if he played on my team I still wouldn't remember what he looks like

Honestly I think stories like freeman’s agent problems, might actually help goldschmidt. Anything to get his name out there would help.

I literally just finished rewatching the Sopranos episode where the struggling rapper hires Bobby Bacala to shoot him ("somewhere fleshy") under the same rationale!

Hahahaa!

goldschmidt a 49th-round pick out of high school and eighth-round pick out of texas state

bless