HOUSTON -- Jorge Soler spun and unleashed the biggest swing he could muster. His batted ball cleared the Houston Minute Maid Park train tracks, and soared 446 feet to give Max Fried's team the early three-run lead. After contact, he dropped his bat and turned his head to his dugout. He rubbed his chest repeatedly, as if to announce that the Atlanta Braves were finally here.
It was, without doubt, and improbably, here.
The Braves were plagued by injuries, dismissed early and counted out at almost every stage of the playoffs. However, the 2021 Braves are World Series champions for first time since 1995. They have a brand new outfield at the midseason and a weak starting rotation at the end. The Houston Astros were defeated 7-0 in Game 6 by the Braves. Fried pitched six scoreless innings and Soler hit an impressive, prodigious homer to seal their long-elusive title.
Soler's shot, on a Luis Garcia two-out cutter, was Soler's third home run and sixth hit in the series. This made him the clear choice to be the MVP.
The Braves started Game 5 with a grand slam in the first inning, but they couldn't keep it up and lost an opportunity to win it all in Atlanta. Fried took advantage of Soler's blast and delivered the win that has been elusive to this franchise for over a quarter-century. This World Series saw the Braves enter with 16 consecutive postseason appearances, which was the longest such streak in history -- and it's over.
Brian Snitker is a champion, having spent 44 years with the Braves. However, he wasn't promoted to manager of the major leagues until the 39th year.
Freddie Freeman is a champion, and has been the foundation of this franchise for over ten years.
In the seventh inning, Freeman added the final touches by lining a two out slider over the center-field fence to complete the Braves' solo homer. The Astros' faithful, who rallied behind their team despite being vilified by the majority of the country this season, were now silent.
In five years, the Astros have been to the World Series three times. This is a dominating run that has placed them among the top teams in the sport. But they have come away with only one title, in 2017, a year tainted by the trash-can-banging-scheme that triggered severe punishment. They lost a three-games to-two lead to a Washington Nationals' team in 2019, which didn't catch on until the end. They were defeated in 2021 by a Braves team following a similar path.
Marcell Ozuna was signed to a $65million extension to strengthen the Braves offense. He was arrested in May on domestic violence charges. Mike Soroka was one of their promising starting pitchers. He tore his Achilles tendon in June and has never played again. Their star center fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. tore his ACL July 10, ending what was promising to be an MVP season.
The Braves were five games behind first place and two games under.500 by the end July. Their run differential was positive, and their revenues were higher that projected. So their general manager Alex Anthopoulos orchestrated trades to acquire four outfielders, which dramatically changed their season's trajectory.
The Braves won 36 out of their 55 regular-season games, and with 88 wins, swept the rest of the National League East. They defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in four NL Division Series matches, and then dethroned Los Angeles Dodgers (a team that was the sport's leader in run-differential and won an additional 18 games) to reach the World Series for the first time in this century. They were the first MLB team to reach the final round, despite not having a winning record since Aug. 6.
Their four new additions, Soler, Joc Peerson, Eddie Rosario, and Adam Duvall powered them. Austin Riley, who was a star in his 24th season. A great trio of starting pitchers (Fried and Charlie Morton) and a dynamic bullpen quartet (A.J. Minter, Tyler Matzek and Luke Jackson. Their lynchpin Freeman, who was a free agent but remained a constant presence, is most important.
Contributions from nearly everyone helped win the World Series.
In the third inning, Morton broke his leg. However, the Braves' offense dominated Framber Valdez and the Astros never came close. Anderson started Game 3 with five hitsless innings. The Braves' four high leverage relievers only allowed two runs the rest of the game. With back-to-back home runs by Soler and Dansby Swanson in Game 4, Rosario kept the lead in the eighth. Their best pitcher was dominant in Game 6. The offense suddenly became overwhelming.
Fried was eager to make amends for his poor outing in Game 2. He scattered four singles in six innings. This set the tone right from the beginning, after Michael Brantley fell on his right leg on an infield single. Two runners were on base with no outs in the first. Fried retired the next three batters on strikeouts and the game was won. While the Astros offense was leading the majors, they averaged 5.3 runs per game in the regular season, and that number increased to 6.7 through two rounds. However, the Braves' staff was shorthanded and limited them to just two runs or less in four of their six games.
Swanson, a Georgia native who grew up rooting on the Braves, increased the lead to five runs with a two-run homer from Cristian Javier in sixth. Freeman scored another run three batters later with a liner to the left-center field gap, and then he ended it with his seventh-inning homer.
