By Zach Tures, Sports Management & Business Student, Mercer University
and John A. Tures, Professor of Political Science, LaGrange College
Since the Braves moved to Cobb County, they’ve won a World Series, the same number as they had when located in the City of Atlanta (1995), Milwaukee (1957), and Boston (1914). What does the team in Truist Park need to do to be the first location to win a second World Series? In this article, we’ll look at what was done in the past, and how that compares to the present.
Lessons From The 2021 Season: Braves and Dodgers (by Zach Tures)
Although a three headed monster with the Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz trio was the formula to success in the 90’s, the new way to win the pitching war in the postseason is with pitching depth. In the two most recent world series, the Dodgers had to escape bad situations by putting starting pitchers, Walker Buehler and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, into late inning situations. The reason why the Dodgers were able to do this was because of their excellent pitching depth.
In the past, managers would just put in their starter and hope they could make it through seven innings, but now, managers can be flexible and end starts closer to the middle of the game in order to keep every pitcher available. Instead of a three man rotation, where each starter would get 4-5 days rest between each start, the Dodgers would use a four or five man rotation allowing each starter to have more rest. With more rest, the managers have the flexibility of either letting their pitcher go deep into a game or taking them out early, leaving them available in later bullpen games.
With a deep starting rotation and deep bullpen, teams are able to be flexible with their gameplan, and consistently get good pitcher/hitter matchups while keeping every pitcher rested. The Dodgers likely learned from their mistake in the 2021 NLCS against the Braves. In 2021, the Dodgers had three top-tier starters: Max Scherzer, Walker Buehler, and Julio Urias. For game 6 of the NLCS, the Dodgers had Scherzer scheduled to start, but he was too exhausted from his previous long outings. This forced Buehler to start on short rest, and that would prove to be fatal, as Buehler gave up four runs early. Atlanta, on the other hand, was able to outlast the dodgers with a deeper bullpen and more starting pitching.
In the modern day, a team looking to contend for a championship needs to be prepared for injuries and unforseen obstacles. Flexibility is the greatest tool at the manager’s disposal in a playoff run. That seems to be the current reasoning behind Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos’s trade deadline moves. At the deadline, the Braves got starter Tyler Mahle and bullpen arm Brent Suter.
Many Braves fans were hoping for a big ticket name like Jacob DeGrom or Tarik Skubal to pair with ace Chris Sale, and might be disappointed by the seeming lack of big moves. The moves made at the deadline may not be catastrophic, especially considering the moves made by the Dodgers and Cubs, but they are moves that signal that Anthopoulos believes that the current roster is only a few depth moves from being contenders for the 2026 World Series. The Braves already have a solid rotation and bullpen, but the added depth could push them over the hump.
As of the writing of this article, Tyler Mahle has had strong performances in his first two games, and Suter has had solid outings in long relief.
Postseason Depth and Stepping It Up In 1995 (by John A. Tures)
For those that think that Atlanta muscled their way past everyone in 1995 with their Hall-of-Fame lineup, the numbers don’t reflect that. The 1995 season was not the pinnacle of regular season success, though the playoff numbers tell a different story.
Of course, the team only won 90 games, but at a .625 winning percentage, you realize a few games were missed by MLB at the start of the season (only 144 were played). They had one superstar amazing season where Greg Maddux went 19-2 with a 1.63 ERA. He was the only one with an ERA under 3, though Tom Glavine (16-7) was close (3.08). John Smoltz was 12-7 with a 3.18 ERA, while Steve Avery and Kent Mercker had losing records, with ERAs over 4.
The team’s additional pitching success came from the relievers (Mark Wohlers, Greg McMichael, Brad Clontz and Pedro Borbon) who went 24-8, with ERAs at 3.65 or lower (two were sub-3.00). Others were less successful in coming in relief, but the mainstays were just that.
No one hit over 30 homers (Fred McGriff was closest at 27) while none hit 100 RBs (McGriff had 93 and Chipper Jones had 86). Two hit over .300 (Javy Lopez and Ryan Klesko) with third place going to McGriff (.280).
In the playoffs, this group really stepped it up. Tom Glavine had an ERA of 1.61 while Steve Average was 1.42, both of which going 2-0. Maddux was 3-1 with 2.84. Only Smoltz struggled (0-0, 6.60 ERA) while Wohlers, McMichael and Alejandro Pena went 4-2, all with ERAs less than 2.84 while Kent Mercker was a serviceable 3.86 ERA (0-0).
Hitting was a similar story. Of the top 10 plate appearances for players, six hit over .300 (Marquis Grisson, Fred McGriff, Chipper Jones, Ryan Klesko, Javy Lopez and Luis Polonia) while reserves Mike Mordecai and Dwight Smith, who played half the games, also got over the .300 mark. The players hit 19 homers and drove in 64 RBIs in 14 games, averaging 4.57 runs per game, more than enough with that pitching lineup.
The lesson is clear. Success wasn’t about picking up an expensive free agent or having a killer lineup coming into the postseason. It was many players boosting their production average, from hitting or pitching.
John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. His views are his own. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu or on “X” at @johntures2. His first book “Branded” a thriller novel where corporate greed, media manipulation and academic intrigue collide in a deadly game of product placement, has been published by the Huntsville Independent Press (https://www.huntsvilleindependent.com/product-page/branded). His second novel, “Independent Thought,” about a third-party candidacy that brings America to its knees, is coming out later this summer with HIP (https://www.huntsvilleindependent.com/).