Why not celebrate the World Series victory and relive it all over again? The Braves threw a bash this past week that was a lot like their run to the championship.
The Braves spent their home opener and the six days that followed celebrating their stars and fans in a unique tribute.
Manager Brian Snitker wants his players to enjoy everything about this.
The Braves have held a number of events since opening day, including a ceremony to give players their awe-inspiring rings. These events are usually crammed into one day, not an entire week.
There were many sights and sounds at Truist Park.
After the season opener, Braves third baseman Austin Riley said it was packed. It was nice to be in front of our fans again.
Greg Mize, Braves vice president of marketing and innovation, said they wanted to spread out the celebration so as many people as possible.
The past few weeks have been busy for the team officials, who organized the weeklong celebration after MLB released a revised, post-lockout regular season schedule. They wanted to do something the league had never done before when they saw the team would be home for a full week. This was the team's first championship since 1995 and the second since moving to Atlanta.
It was the perfect home for an All-Star first baseman who grew up a Braves fan. After spending the first six years of his career with the Oakland A's, Matt Olson was traded to his hometown team last month to fill the massive void left by fan-favorite Freddie Freeman who signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Getting here, feeling the atmosphere in the stadium and going out and being able to play has been a blast.
While watching his teammates celebrate in Atlanta, he had a thought.
He said it made him want to win a World Series.
Even as the fanfare of "champions week" began, Dansby Swanson admitted he had already turned the page. He has been focused on a repeat since the start of the summer.
The day after the parade was pretty much where the athlete would be for the next year.
The shift has not been as quick for Braves fans. The Tuesday night in November when the Atlanta team won the title again will always be remembered.
Fans watched in living rooms across Georgia. They watched in bars in Buckhead, apartments off Bankhead and in cities and towns far from the peach groves. The euphoria of a title, anticipated for decades, finally came via a Game 6 win.
Baseball and the Braves are so important to Atlanta that people looked at me like I was crazy when I started screaming and crying at work.
That kind of joy could be seen all over the city, on faces that were not sure what they were seeing. Someone pinch us. Is this really happening?
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For decades, losing big games had been more synonymous with the city's pro sports clubs than winning them. Atlanta has just three major professional sports titles in its history, including the MLS Cup win by Atlanta United. The 1995 title was surrounded by World Series defeats.
The Braves had 16 Octobers end in playoff defeat.
It was like a breath of fresh air. Atlanta native Riah Greathouse said that maybe we do deserve nice things.
It is like, "Wait -- I am worthy."
Georgia's national championship football team will be recognized on Wednesday night. The school earned its third national title and first since 1980 when it beat Alabama.
If you believe the Braves broke an Atlanta title jinx, the celebration is fitting.
A friend of mine is a huge Georgia fan and he and his friends don't think they would have won if we hadn't won.
The success of the Atlanta Hawks last season was a factor in the success of the team, according to Swanson.
Young's team upset the Philadelphia 76ers in seven games after he led the team to three 30-point road performances in wins over the New York Knicks. He and his teammates could do the same thing.
They have personnel, but it is the belief in their main guy, Trae, that makes them so good. I felt like it did it for us as well.
It was October. The Braves lost Game 7 of the World Series. On a windy, blue-skied afternoon in downtown Atlanta, a 6-year-old Greathouse went up to the rooftop of the Justice Center building where his mother worked. She and one of his best friends were with him.
There were garbage bags on top of the buildings where we were, where they had just taken paper and put it through a shredder.
There were thin cuts that formed confetti. The garbage bags were to be thrown down from the rooftops.
The two months leading to that day set a tone for the heights to which the Braves soared last fall. The Braves were relevant because of that September stretch. For the first time, fans in the city felt that they were supporting a winner that could have sustained success, not just individual stars like Hank Aaron in the 1970s or Dale Murphy in the 1980s. The team was full of potential stars.
Some Atlanta fans believe that if it weren't for 1991, there would not have been a 1995 or a 2021.
It set the foundation for 30-plus years of Braves fandom for me, and now I feel like that is setting the foundation for my son as well.
The 1991 season featured a mad dash from the back of the division pack to the front, just like the one in 1990 that saw the team finish 26 games out of first place.
In September 1991, the Braves and Dodgers traded places in the National League West. On the last day of the regular season, Atlanta won over Houston and went on to win their 14th division title.
The front offices that scored big with major moves to the clubs that failed completely were graded.
David Schoenfield is a person.
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The players walked back into the visiting locker room at the Metrodome. They had just lost a World Series game. It would have been the first major pro sports championship in Atlanta.
The celebration that followed the defeat was unlike anything the city had seen before.
One million people were estimated to be on the avenue below the rooftop where Greathouse stood with his mother and friend. They were milling about in the street. There was a six-foot wide tunnel between the two sides of the road. More than 50 red, white and blue cars traveled at a stop-and-go pace through the narrow path formed by the space.
Maynard Jackson, the late mayor of Atlanta, said during a live broadcast of the parade that it was the biggest crowd he had ever seen. I do not care what the occasion is. The biggest crowd by far is what I am talking about.
The Braves lifted us up. We have given the Braves our roots and they have given us their wings.
Last week, a former Braves pitcher remembered how he and a catcher were in a hot car.
We had to walk the last mile of the parade. We got out of the car, went to a bar and got a beer, and then joined the processional at the meeting place downtown. It was hilarious.
The frenetic scene was more than just a funny memory. Atlanta sports fans taught him something.
It showed that they were hungry for a world championship and second place was not as bad as they thought. They welcomed us as if we won the World Series. I know we didn't finish the job, but it was such an eye-opening experience to see how the fans were for the Braves.
When David Rogers thinks about Atlanta's run last year, his 7-year-old son, Hill, is at the top of his mind.
Rogers, a 36-year-old Atlantan, said that he caught onto his enthusiasm, so he really got into it. It was fun to see his excitement without the memories of defeat.
Rogers attended the opener of the World Series when the Braves unveiled their new title. Bivins took her son to the game so he could claim his replica of the championship ring the Braves received on Saturday. The Braves honored their individual award winners in a ceremony on Friday. They gave out bobbleheads of Riley, the middle-of-the-order hitter who helped the Braves win the World Series.
Bivins said that even though he is 3, he has been a big part of this moment.
The Braves are a team in transition like the city they call home. They have grown, matured, become something bigger than most outsiders expected, and done so quickly. The team is starting to discover the potential of its future.
The Braves arrived when they were not expected to. They won. Can they stay at the top where they once sat?
One of my favorite things about this group of guys is that they all compete for the same thing.
The Braves have given their most ardent supporters hope, something many of them had lost over the past 27 years.
Greathouse said that it was nice to say that this is the home team.
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