Braves Parade 2021: Celebration Schedule, Route and Players to Watch
Nov 5, 2021
HOUSTON, TX - NOVEMBER 02: Members of the Atlanta Braves, ownership, staff and commissioner of baseball Robert D. Manfred Jr. celebrate after the Braves beat the Astros, 7-0, in Game 6 of the 2021 World Series between the Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday, November 2, 2021 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
A celebration 26 years in the making takes place on Friday, as the Atlanta Braves return home to commemorate their World Series title alongside their fans.
The city of Atlanta is hosting a championship parade for the Braves that will begin at 12 p.m. ET. It will start at the intersection of Peachtree and Marietta Streets before making its way into Cobb County and finishing at Truist Park.
Once the parade gets to the Braves home park, there will be a celebration inside the stadium where players and coaches will be able to address the crowd. Fox 5 in Atlanta noted the Truist Park portion of the event is likely to run from 3-5 p.m., but that time is subject to change.
Per an official press release from the Braves, tickets for the event are free.
Atlanta fans have been spoiled because they went from having Chipper Jones as the face of the franchise to Freddie Freeman without any gap in between.
Freeman's tenure in Major League Baseball overlapped with the final three seasons of Jones' career. He has since gone on to become one of the most beloved players in franchise history.
Coming off an MVP season in 2020, Freeman put together another excellent campaign this year. The five-time All-Star had an .896 OPS and 31 homers during the regular season.
Even though his playoff performance got overshadowed by NLCS MVP Eddie Rosario and World Series MVP Jorge Soler, Freeman was the most consistent hitter in the lineup from Game 1 of the NLDS against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Freeman hit .304/.420/.625 with five homers and 11 RBI in 16 postseason games. His solo homer in the seventh inning of Game 6 against the Houston Astros was the cherry on top of a 7-0 victory.
There's also a chance this could be Freeman's final opportunity to interact with Atlanta fans as a member of the organization. The 32-year-old is set to become a free agent for the first time in his career.
Jorge Soler
Soler's time with Atlanta has been short, but he made the most of it. The 29-year-old was acquired from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for pitching prospect Kasey Kalich on July 30.
In 55 regular-season games after the deal, Soler hit .269/.358/.524 with 14 homers. He barely played in the first two postseason series, in part due to a stint on the COVID-19 list at the start of the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Soler got back into the lineup on a regular basis in the World Series. He responded by posting an 1.191 OPS with three homers, including a three-run rocket in Game 6 that got the scoring started.
Anyone who is capable of evoking memories of Albert Pujols vs. Brad Lidge in the 2005 NLCS is going to be worth paying attention to when he steps up to a microphone to celebrate.
Ronald Acuna Jr.
This one comes with a caveat, because it's not clear if Ronald Acuna Jr. will speak during the celebration. He does speak English, but the majority of his interviews are conducted with an interpreter who translates for him.
If Acuna does speak, his voice will be one of the most fascinating to hear. Freeman is probably the most popular baseball player in Atlanta because of his longevity with the franchise, but Acuna is the best player on the team.
The 23-year-old was unable to be on the field for the Braves in the postseason because of an injury. He tore his ACL trying to make a catch in a game against the Miami Marlins on July 10.
At the time of his injury, Acuna was in an MVP-caliber season. He was hitting .283/.394/.596 with 24 homers and 17 stolen bases in 82 games. The Venezuelan star ranked second in MLB with 4.2 FanGraphs wins above replacement through July 10.
While no one would argue that Atlanta is a better team without Acuna, that one play had massive ripple effects on the roster.
General manager Alex Anthopoulos made a series of trades over the next three weeks to bring in Soler, Rosario, Adam Duvall and Joc Pederson. That quartet combined to hit 44 homers and drive in 116 runs in the regular season with the Braves.
They each hit three homers and had a total of 36 RBI during the playoffs.
"In all of the moments, even in the key ones, I'm imagining myself there taking that at-bat," Acuna said in Spanish to reporters prior to Game 2 of the World Series.
MLB would have been better served if Acuna, one of the best young stars in the sport, was able to play in the postseason. But he made his presence felt cheering on the bench for his team every game.
Hopefully we get to hear from Acuna about his experience watching from the dugout.
Braves Parade 2021: Predictions, Viewing Info for World Series Celebration
Nov 4, 2021
The Atlanta Braves celebrate after winning baseball's World Series in Game 6 against the Houston Astros Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021, in Houston. The Braves won 7-0. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
The Atlanta Braves have won their first World Series in 26 years, defeating the Houston Astros in Tuesday's Game 6 to take the series 4-2. It's just the team's second championship overall after moving to Atlanta in 1966.
That calls for a parade.
The team announced a two-part celebration to take place Friday in Atlanta, beginning in the city with the parade and culminating at Truist Park with a concert featuring Ludacris and Big Boi.
Everything you need to know about the day of the celebration, including the parade route, street closures, ticket information, COVID-19 requirements and more, can be found below.
Atlanta Braves World Series Parade
Date: Friday, Nov. 5
Start time: 12 p.m. ET
Route: Begins begin at the corner of Marietta Street NW and Peachtree Street; travels north up Peachtree to 10th Street. Second phase at Cobb Parkway, beginning at the corner of Riverwood Parkway and culminating at Circle 75 Parkway.
Tickets: Free and available on the Braves' website Thursday at 10:30 a.m. ET for Premium and A-List Members and 11:30 a.m. for Braves Insiders; available to the general public at 1 p.m.
TV: Live broadcast on Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast
🚨We interrupt this celebration to let you know that WE ARE HAVING A PARADE ON FRIDAY!!!🚨
The Braves' run to the World Series title has excited the country even beyond fans of the team. Game 6 averaged 14.3 million viewers, which was up from 12.6 million viewers last year.
For Braves fans outside Atlanta, the parade action will be televised on Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast. For fans in the city, with some pre-planning, the parade is the perfect way to celebrate with the team.
Though the parade begins at 12 p.m. ET Friday, Atlanta police encourage viewers to line up along the route (see above) by 11 a.m. This is important, because once the parade begins, the area will be closed off. Officials are recommending viewers take public transportation.
The procession is expected to reach Cobb County by 2 p.m. ET.
There will be about 20 vehicles in the parade convoy, including six double-decker buses.
The city and surrounding counties have already closed multiple school districts on Friday, including Atlanta, Cobb County, Clayton County, DeKalb County, Douglas County, Fulton County and Marietta.
As for streets to avoid, expect heavy traffic on Cobb Parkway (Riverwood Parkway to Battery Ave.) and its cross streets.
The concert inside Truist Park following the procession is free to attend, but tickets must be reserved in advance.
Championship parades are always something of a wild card. They are one of the few opportunities where pro athletes, with impeccably molded images, are able to cut loose and get a little wild. When the champagne is flowing, the speeches become a must-watch event.
And when you're an 88-win team that found yourself, against all odds, in the National League Division Series...then the League Championship Series...then the World Series, you're probably going to be cutting loose pretty hard.
Braves Parade 2021: Route, Live Stream and Expectations
Nov 4, 2021
The Atlanta Braves celebrate after winning baseball's World Series in Game 6 against the Houston Astros Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021, in Houston. The Braves won 7-0. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
The Atlanta Braves ended a two-plus-decade dry spell Tuesday night with a 7-0 dismantling of the Houston Astros for their first World Series title since 1995. And on Friday, they celebrate their triumph.
The team will hold a championship parade that will kick off at Peachtree and Marietta Streets and culminate with the arrival of the Commissioner's Trophy to Truist Park. Players will pay tribute to fans along the way.
The parade will also feature a concert from Atlanta natives Ludacris and Big Boi inside the stadium. Tickets are free but must be reserved ahead of time, according to a press release from the organization.
Braves World Series Parade Information
Date: Friday, November 5
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Watch: MLB Network
Stream: MLB.com
Expectations
There will be plenty to celebrate as Atlanta returns the Commissioner's Trophy to a city that has longed for it since Chipper Jones, David Justice, Javy Lopez and Fred McGriff formed one of the most formidable units in team history.
This year's team and its fans will celebrate Jorge Soler obliterating a ball that ended up beyond the railroad tracks outside Truist Park, and Ian Johnson and the rest of the team's bullpen, which stunted the high-powered Astros offense and made such a victory possible.
They will celebrate a team that entered the postseason with the fewest wins of any competing clubs and still won the title.
They will celebrate the face of the team, Freddie Freeman, who tacked on the seventh and final run of the Braves' unforgettable postseason "in what might have been his final at-bat with the organization," as Joe Buck reminded viewers.
The Fox broadcaster caught a considerable amount of heat from fans for his call and its timing, but that does not make it any less valid.
Freeman has expressed his desire to remain with the team, telling reporters before Game 3 of the World Series, "I think everyone in this room knows I want to stay here. I've put on this uniform—since 2007 I got to put on a Braves uniform with the Gulf Coast League team. It's all I've ever known."
He continued, "It hasn't hit me because I'm trying to put that off because of a little bit more important things at task right now."
The things at task have been accomplished and now, Freeman's future with the team is uncertain.
Whether he stays or goes, though, is a question for a time beyond Friday's celebration. Both he and the fans in Atlanta have earned the opportunity to celebrate a championship win that seemed unlikely earlier in the season and even as late as the beginning of the postseason.
A complete performance on baseball's grandest stage, featuring superb pitching and an offensive onslaught, fueled the team to a win that will reverberate through Atlanta long after Freeman has retired and the parade has concluded.
Cheers and partying will define Friday's festivities, as they should, and talk of Freeman's status with the team will resume after.
Braves Parade 2021: Route, Date, Time, Live Stream and TV Info
Nov 3, 2021
Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker holds up the trophy = after winning baseball's World Series in Game 6 against the Houston Astros Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021, in Houston. The Braves won 7-0. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Fresh off winning their first World Series in 26 years, the Atlanta Braves will have a formal celebration with their fans on Friday at 12 p.m. ET
Per J.D. Capeluto of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the city is planning to start the championship parade at Peachtree Street and Marietta Street and it will make its way to Truist Parkas the players engage with the crowd to celebrate their magical 2021 season.
“We are having a parade,” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told reporters, via Capeluto. “I think the people in Atlanta and the great people in Cobb County are going to be very pleased with the parade that we have.”
The Braves clinched the World Series with a 7-0 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 6 on Tuesday night.
Expectations for the Braves when the postseason started were modest, at best. FanGraphs gave them the sixth-best odds (9.6 percent) to win the World Series out of 10 teams in the field. They were only ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals (1.4 percent) among National League clubs.
The skepticism around Atlanta wasn't wholly unjustified. Its 88 wins during the regular season were the fewest among the six division winners across MLB. Two AL teams that didn't make the playoffs had more wins than the Braves (Toronto Blue Jays—91, Seattle Mariners—90).
Despite the low win total, there were signs during the regular season that the Braves had started to figure things out. They went 44-28 with a +115 run differential in the second half.
It's a little deceptive to describe the Braves as an 88-win team. They went 44-28 (.611 winning percentage) in the second half.
Post trade deadline, this was a very different team, especially in August and September.
Ronald Acuna Jr., their 23-year-old superstar, tore his ACL on July 10 after an awkward landing while trying to catch a flyball against the Miami Marlins. He was having an MVP-caliber season up to that point with a .283/.394/.596 slash line with 24 homers and 17 stolen bases in 82 games.
General manager Alex Anthopoulos used the trade deadline to make up for the loss of Acuna's production by adding multiple outfielders who played significant roles in the postseason.
Joc Pederson, Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall and Jorge Soler were acquired prior to the July 30 trade deadline. Those four players combined to hit 44 homers and drive in 116 runs in Atlanta during the regular season.
That performance carried over to the postseason. Rosario was named MVP of the NLCS after going 14-of-25 with five extra-base hits and nine RBI in six games against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Soler, whose three-run homer opened the scoring in Game 5 of the World Series, was named MVP of the Fall Classic. Pederson hit the game-winning pinch-hit three-run homer in the fifth inning Game 4 of the NLDS against the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Braves' midseason acquisitions were crucial to their World Series run:
*1st team to have LCS MVP (Eddie Rosario) and WS MVP (Jorge Soler) play for a different team in same season
The Braves also received significant contributions from some of their homegrown stars.
Freddie Freeman, who has been with the organization since being drafted in the second round in 2007, had a 1.045 OPS in 16 playoff games. He hit the go-ahead homer off Brewers closer Josh Hader in the clinching Game 4 of the NLDS.
Max Fried wasn't drafted by the Braves, but he has spent his entire big-league career with the franchise after being acquired in 2014 from the San Diego Padres as part of the Justin Upton trade.
In the clinching game of the World Series, Fried tossed six shutout innings and allowed just four hits. The southpaw was the only starting pitcher for either team in the series to toss at least six innings in a game.
All of these individual pieces combined to lift the Braves to a championship in their first World Series appearance since 1999. They are just the 10th franchise in MLB history with at least four World Series titles.
Braves Sent WWE Championship Belt After 2021 World Series Victory vs. Astros
Nov 3, 2021
HOUSTON, TX - NOVEMBER 02: Eddie Rosario #8, William Contreras #24, Orlando Arcia #9 and Joc Pederson #22 of the Atlanta Braves celebrate after their teams 7-0 victory in Game 6 against the Houston Astros to win the 2021 World Series at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday, November 2, 2021 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
WWE honored the Atlanta Braves with a customized title belt to celebrate their World Series victory.
This carries on the tradition of the company saluting the major American sports champions. Most recently, chief brand officer Stephanie McMahon shared the design that was sent to the WNBA's Chicago Sky.
Rasheed Wallace may have been one of the originators behind the idea. After the Detroit Pistons beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2004 NBA Finals, he bought a replica championship for each of his teammates.
Atlanta sealed its fourth title with a 7-0 win over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.
Jorge Soler opened the scoring with a mammoth three-run home run in the third inning. Soler was named the World Series MVP after going 6-for-20 with three homers and an .800 slugging percentage.
Braves World Series Win Offers 3 Key Lessons For MLB Teams in 2022
Nov 3, 2021
HOUSTON, TX - NOVEMBER 02: Members of the Atlanta Braves, ownership, staff and commissioner of baseball Robert D. Manfred Jr. celebrate after the Braves beat the Astros, 7-0, in Game 6 of the 2021 World Series between the Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday, November 2, 2021 in Houston, Texas (Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
For the first time since 1995, the World Series champions reside in Atlanta. And if history is any indication, it won't be long before rival teams start picking apart how it happened so they can also walk that path to the Fall Classic.
In theory, this should be complicated. But in reality, it's pretty straightforward how Atlanta did it.
Winning the World Series required Atlanta to overcome all sorts of odds. The team went into the 2021 season burdened with less-than-optimistic projections, and its chances only got more complicated as the year went on. Never more so than when early MVP favorite Ronald Acuna Jr. tore his ACL on July 10.
Ultimately, though, the "how" of Atlanta's long-awaited championship can be boiled down to three things that other teams would be wise to take note of.
Nothing Matters More Than Winning the Home Run Battle
There's a debate to be had about whether the recent proliferation of home runs is good or bad for Major League Baseball. However, there's no doubt that this proliferation is ongoing with no end in sight.
Especially not after what Atlanta just accomplished.
Home runs were Atlanta's primary offensive weapon in the regular season, during which it cranked out 239 to rank third in MLB. So it went in the postseason, wherein manager Brian Snitker's offense paced the field with 23 long balls.
Come the World Series, Atlanta turned the home run battle into a no-contest affair. It smashed at least one long ball in all six games against the Houston Astros en route to a historic home run advantage:
The Braves hit 11 home runs in the World Series. The Astros hit 2
That +9 HR differential for the Braves is tied for the largest by any team in a World Series, with the 1956 Yankees, who hit 12, to the Dodgers' 3
If you're scoring at home, this makes it five out of the last six World Series in which the winner of the home run battle was also the winner of the series. The lone exception was in 2019, when the Astros and Washington Nationals pushed with 11 home runs apiece.
So in case anyone is still going to bat for the idea that small ball wins in October, it's past time to knock it out.
Sure, the Astros won the second and fifth games of the World Series by stringing baserunners together rather than hitting the ball out of the park. But that's harder to do in the playoffs.
Just looking at the last decade, the on-base rates with the bases either occupied or empty in the postseason are almost always lower than they are in the regular season:
When faced with a challenge like this—namely, better pitching—the best solution isn't to work walks or hit it where they aren't. It's to hit the ball where they can't possibly catch it.
Granted, the other side of this equation is that Atlanta's pitchers permitted Houston hitters to go yard only twice after they had done so 13 times in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
To do this, Atlanta's hurlers relied on the most democratic of pitching outcomes: the ground ball. Their 46.6 ground-ball percentage was the highest for any team in the last six World Series, and their defense gobbled them up to the tune of a .217 average allowed.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, a big key for Atlanta's arms was living at the bottom of the strike zone unlike any of the last 12 World Series teams. In so doing, they might have uncovered a market inefficiency by bucking the more recent shift toward pitching up in the zone.
Trust Pitchers To Do Their Jobs
Speaking of pitching, starting pitching was more of a strength for Atlanta in these playoffs than it was for other teams. Its four quality starts aren't much in a vacuum, but those were twice as many as any other team got.
Even still, the splits make it abundantly clear that starting pitching wasn't what buoyed Atlanta's pitching staff throughout its postseason run:
Starters: 64.2 IP, 3.48 ERA
Relievers: 75.1 IP, 3.11 ERA
From one perspective, there was a "necessity is the mother of invention" thing going on with Snitker's usage of his pitchers. He began the playoffs with only three viable starters in Charlie Morton, Max Fried and Ian Anderson. Once Morton broke his leg in Game 1 of the World Series, he was down to two.
Yet this is also just how things are now. The division of labor between starters and relievers has been getting more and more even for decades, and the last two seasons have nearly turned it into a 50-50 split. And as Jay Jaffe covered at FanGraphs, relievers are taking on even more work come October.
So much for the three-batter minimum rule discouraging managers from trying to exploit as many matchups as they can.
But while that bodes ill for baseball's larger pace-of-play problem, it's possible that starters will reclaim some of their former reliability after 2021.
Going from a pandemic-shortened 60-game campaign in 2020 back to 162 games in 2021 required many starters to drastically increase their innings from last year to this year. From the outside looking in, this seemed to be an underlying cause of the quick hooks we saw in the playoffs. Guys were just gassed.
But even if circumstances more or less forced him to play by these same rules, Snitker did a few things to ultimately separate his team from the pack.
For one, he didn't so much play matchups as put a ton of trust in his best relievers. Of the 75.1 innings that Atlanta's pen pitched during the playoffs, more than half (38.2) were handled by three guys: Will Smith, A.J. Minter and Tyler Matzek. And rightfully so, given that they combined to allow only seven runs with 50 strikeouts.
Baseball: World Series: Atlanta Braves Tyler Matzek (68) in action, pitching vs Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park. Game 1. Houston, TX 10/26/2021 CREDIT: Greg Nelson (Photo by Greg Nelson/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Set Number: X163851 TK1)
“I can't say enough about our bullpen,” Snitker told reporters after Game 5 of the World Series. “My God, I'm going to talk to ownership and send them all to Hawai'i for a week when we're done.”
Another thing Snitker did was refrain from using his best starters in relief. Which is to say, he didn't risk what the Boston Red Sox did with Nathan Eovaldi or what the Los Angeles Dodgers did with Max Scherzer and Julio Urias. Thus, there's no way Atlanta could have gotten bit like those two clubs did.
The takeaway? Maybe starting pitching isn't what it used to be, but at least let starters start and relievers relieve.
The Difference Between a Pretender and a Contender: Effort
In case there's any doubt that Atlanta general manager Alex Anthopoulos is the executive of the year, just consider that the team wouldn't have its MVPs for either the World Series or the National League Championship Series if not for him:
What's more, Soler and Eddie Rosario are just two parts of Anthopoulos' pre-trade deadline haul. He likewise fortified his outfield with Adam Duvall and Joc Pederson. Combined, the four of them hit 41 homers in the regular season and 12 more in the postseason.
Any other GM might not have been as aggressive as Anthopoulos.
In the immediate aftermath of Acuna's injury, Atlanta was below .500 and saddled with about an 8 percent chance of making the playoffs. Come the July 30 deadline, its situation hadn't improved much. Atlanta went into that day with a 51-53 record and a five-game deficit in the National League East race.
Nevertheless, Atlanta's brass calculated that there was a chance. As Anthopoulos said at the time:
We just felt like we had a pretty good handle on our club and what the NL East was doing at the time. And even if things hadn’t gone all that well, we still felt like we had a club that had a chance to win the division. I think it’s wide open, and there’s a lot of games left.
In and of itself, it was refreshing to see a team seek upgrades even in spite of a losing record and long-shot postseason odds. That's become all too rare at a time when, as a source put it to R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports, "the attribute shared by everyone in the industry is risk aversion, not a passion for the game."
Plus, it didn't cost an arm and a leg for Atlanta to act on its optimism. In the trades it made for Soler, Rosario, Duvall and Pederson, it gave up exactly one prospect that ranked among the organization's top 30 for MLB.com. That was first baseman Bryce Ball, and even he was mired in a down year when he went to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Pederson.
Otherwise, the most notable player to leave Atlanta was fallen star Pablo Sandoval, who went to Cleveland for Rosario as a means to balance out the finances.
Could Atlanta have aimed bigger? Sure. But to one extent or another, Soler, Rosario, Duvall and Pederson had each been stars in recent years. They were classic low-risk, high-reward additions. Maybe Atlanta didn't dare dream that they would pan out as well as they did, but it was always within the realm of possibility.
If the message wasn't clear enough then, it sure is now: Only good things can come from throwing caution to the wind and just, you know, trying.
World Series 2021: Braves Trophy Celebration Highlights, Comments and More
Nov 3, 2021
Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker holds up the trophy = after winning baseball's World Series in Game 6 against the Houston Astros Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021, in Houston. The Braves won 7-0. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
After 26 long years, the Atlanta Braves are World Series champions once again.
The Houston Astros took the Braves back to Minute Maid Park for Game 6, but in the end, Atlanta was able to prevent a Game 7 and get the job done Tuesday night. The Braves blanked the Astros 7-0 to take the series 4-2.
Fittingly, Jorge Soler, whose three-run, third-inning homer on Tuesday night approached the stratosphere, was named World Series MVP after hitting .300 with three home runs, six RBI and three walks during the series.
Needless to day, joy and relief are abundant in Atlanta as the Braves broke "the curse." Fans remained in the stadium long past the trophy ceremony to celebrate their team.
Let's relive the moment through the highlights of and reactions to the Braves' trophy celebration.
The irony of MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, who moved the All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver as a result of Georgia's new voting law, presenting the trophy to the team was not lost on the Braves fans in attendance at Minute Maid Park and on social media.
Manfred's reason for pulling the game from Atlanta was that it was "the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport," but the decision had negative consequences for the city and its communities who relied on that revenue.
Braves fans also used the trophy presentation ceremony as a chance to make their voices heard on another matter. Star Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman, who tied a club record with five home runs in the 2021 postseason, is set to become a free agent for the first time in his career.
Freeman has been with the Braves since they selected him in the second round of the 2007 draft.
During the trophy presentation, Braves fans could be heard chanting "RE-SIGN FREDDIE":
Others in the Atlanta sports world congratulated the Braves via social media Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, including Georgia and Georgia Tech Football and Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan.
In the clubhouse, as the team celebrated with champagne, manager Brian Snitker told his team, "You boys are going to be world champions the rest of your lives."
The Braves announced their championship parade will be held Friday.
Freddie Freeman 'Hopeful' He Can Sign New Braves Contract After World Series Win
Nov 3, 2021
Atlanta Braves' Freddie Freeman celebrates his home run during the seventh inning in Game 6 of baseball's World Series between the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021, in Houston.(AP Photo/Eric Gay)
First baseman Freddie Freeman made it clear Tuesday he wants to remain with the Atlanta Braves moving forward.
Following the Braves' 7-0 win over the Houston Astros in Game 6 of the World Series on Tuesday to give them their first World Series championship since 1995, Freeman said the following about his desire to stay in Atlanta:
The eight-year, $135 million contract Freeman signed in 2014 is set to expire this offseason, meaning he can become a free agent.
Freeman has spent his entire 12-year career in Atlanta, and he has developed into one of the premier hitters in baseball.
In addition to now being a World Series champion, the 32-year-old is a five-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger who has also won a Gold Glove and an NL MVP.
Freeman has been an All-Star in three of the past four seasons, and he would have been an All-Star in 2020 as well had the game been played.
During his COVID-shortened MVP campaign in 2020, he posted a career-high .341 batting average while adding 13 home runs, 53 RBI and 51 runs scored.
He followed that up with another excellent performance in 2021, hitting .300 with 31 homers and 83 RBI. He also led the NL in runs for the second year in a row with 120.
He has now hit .300 or better in five of the past six seasons and has hit .295 or better in each of the past six campaigns as well.
For his career, Freeman owns a .295/.384/.509 slash line across 1,565 games to go along with 271 home runs, 941 RBI and 969 runs.
In terms of pure hitters, he is one of the best in baseball, and he may be the best available in free agency as well.
It is difficult to envision Freeman playing elsewhere since he has been part of the Braves organization since he was drafted in the second round in 2007, but every team will soon get a shot at him unless the two sides are able to work out a deal before free agency officially begins.
From Afterthoughts to World Series Champs: How the Braves Shattered Expectations
Nov 3, 2021
Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker holds up the trophy = after winning baseball's World Series in Game 6 against the Houston Astros Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021, in Houston. The Braves won 7-0. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
At long last, a playoff result that hasn't left the hearts of Atlanta sports fans utterly broken. And on account of it coming in the World Series, the team that got it done can now count itself among the greatest in the history of Major League Baseball.
And furthermore, perhaps the most unlikely member of that particular club.
To be sure, the Fall Classic in and of itself was mostly a dominant affair for the victors. Atlanta may have been outscored by the Houston Astros 16-7 in its two losses, but it collected its four wins to the tune of an 18-4 drubbing punctuated by not one but two shutouts.
The second, for those who missed it or simply want to see it again, was a 7-0 rout in Game 6 that ended when Will Smith got Yuli Gurriel to ground weakly to Dansby Swanson:
Of all the players who got in on the fun Tuesday at Minute Maid Park, the pivotal crowd-silencing moment was provided by Jorge Soler. His three-run home run off Luis Garcia in the third inning was worthy of Albert Pujols and ultimately would have been enough to deliver Atlanta its first World Series championship since 1995 all on its own:
That blast pushed Soler's home run tally for the series to three, each of which put Atlanta in the lead. So, let there be no doubt that he deserved to be named the World Series MVP.
If you're just now joining us after waking up from a nap that began in October 2020, you might be unsurprised that Atlanta has won the World Series but confused as to how Soler got there.
For that matter, what's he doing sharing a dugout with Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall and Joc Pederson? Shouldn't Ronald Acuna Jr. be somewhere in there? And what ever became of Marcell Ozuna? Of Mike Soroka? And is that Charlie Morton? If so, why does he have a cast on his leg?
Short answer: Try as the baseball gods might to stamp out Atlanta in 2021, they just couldn't.
Atlanta Players of the Game
LHP Max Fried: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 R, 6 K. Amid a series marked by bad starting pitching, the young left-hander turned in the series' first quality start and the first-ever effort with at least six strikeouts, no walks and no runs in a World Series clincher.
DH Jorge Soler: 1-for-3, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI. Statcast measured his blast at 109.6 mph off the bat and 446 feet. "Crushed," in other words. Not to be overlooked, he also came home on Freddie Freeman's RBI double in the fifth.
SS Dansby Swanson: 1-for-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI. Though Atlanta ultimately didn't need more than Soler's home run, it was Swanson's two-run shot in the fifth that really delivered the message to fans packed into Minute Maid Park that the home team wasn't going to win this one.
1B Freddie Freeman: 2-for-4, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI. If this is to be the last time he ever suits up for Atlanta, what a way to go out. His solo homer in the seventh, in particular, was the obligatory dagger.
Astros Players of the Game
LF Michael Brantley: 2-for-4. He was the only Astro with more than one hit in Game 6, not to mention their only regular to hit over .300 for the series.
Seriously, Atlanta's Championship Is Historically Unlikely
Though history will show that Atlanta won its first World Series title in 25 years on November 2, 2021, arguably the defining date of the team's season is actually August 6.
It was on that day (a Friday, if you must know) that manager Brian Snitker's team achieved a winning record for the first time. Until now, no World Series winner had ever first crossed the .500 threshold so late in a season:
Latest date for a World Series team to have a winning record for the 1st time during the season in MLB history: 1. 2021 #Braves (Aug 6th) 2. 1914 Braves (Aug 3rd) 3. 1979 Pirates (May 30th) 4. 1925 Pirates (May 27th) 5. 1985 Cardinals (May 26th) pic.twitter.com/zhwGuWAGSS
Even in the wake of three straight National League East titles and a trip to the National League Championship Series in 2020, that Atlanta would end up having a difficult season in 2021 wasn't entirely unforeseen. If anything, the club's trajectory during the summer was vindication for projection systems that had it pegged for 80-ish wins during the spring.
What neither computers nor people could have anticipated, however, was exactly how Atlanta would come so close to total ruin.
The word "blah" might best describe Atlanta's early months. There was just nothing of note there as it went 38-41 through June. Yet it wasn't until July 10 that Atlanta truly hit its nadir. That was when Acuna, who had been putting up MVP-caliber numbers, tore the ACL in his right knee and was lost for the season.
MIAMI, FL - JULY 10: Ronald Acuna Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves sits with his head in this hands after an injury during the fifth inning against the Miami Marlins during the fifth inning against the Miami Marlins at loanDepot park on July 10, 2021 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images)
Atlanta was already without Ozuna, who didn't play out the rest of the first season of his newly signed four-year, $64 million deal after his arrest on domestic violence charges in May. Travis d'Arnaud was also out of the picture because of thumb surgery. Though he was able to pitch in spring training, young ace Mike Soroka wasn't yet fully recovered from an Achilles tear that he ultimately aggravated in June.
Just how screwed was Atlanta after Acuna's injury compounded things? Very screwed. As in, about a 7 percent chance of making the playoffs screwed. That screwed.
Which is to say, Atlanta beat expectations just by going 44-29 in the 73 games it played after Acuna's injury.
As they simply had to, it was the club's incumbent stars who picked up the bulk of the slack. The loss of Acuna coincided with Freeman and Austin Riley getting red-hot to the tune of a combined .947 OPS and 31 homers. Swanson and Ozzie Albies pitched in 29 homers of their own, while Morton and Fried shoved with a 2.35 ERA in 29 total starts.
And yet the single biggest contribution to Atlanta's season-salvaging stretch run came from on high. Because even though his team went just 7-9 in the first 16 games following Acuna's injury, general manager Alex Anthopoulos still fortified his offense with deals for Soler, Duvall, Rosario and Pederson ahead of the July 30 trade deadline.
"I was ecstatic," Anthopoulos said, per MLB.com's Mark Bowman, recalling the go-ahead from team chairman Terry McGuirk to add to the team's payroll. "That’s a credit to those fans who came out and supported this club and put us in this position.”
Those moves? Yeah, they paid off. All those four new outfielders did was team up for an .830 OPS and 41 home runs.
As they hit more than all but one team in the National League, home runs were indeed a feature for Atlanta after the trade deadline came and went. So was excellent defense, as the team's newfound fondness for shifts eventually led it to allowing the league's second-lowest batting average on balls in play after the deadline.
It was also during this stretch that Atlanta's famed "Night Shift" of relievers first clocked in. Atlanta's whole bullpen excelled with a 3.23 ERA after July 30, but driving the bus was the foursome of Smith, A.J. Minter, Tyler Matzek and Luke Jackson. Together, they carved up the opposition by way of a 2.27 ERA in 100 total appearances.
Perhaps there's an alternate timeline in which Atlanta's strong finish to 2021 goes for naught because the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies were simply better. But in this timeline, Snitker's guys effectively ran unopposed in the season's final weeks:
The Braves' chance to win the World Series throughout the season
Yet even after Atlanta had secured its fourth straight NL East title, the writing on the wall still said that a deep postseason run was unlikely. It had finished the regular season with only 88 wins and .547 winning percentage. Throughout all of MLB history, only four other clubs had ever won the World Series after falling short of a .550 winning percentage in the regular season.
Looking back now, it's still easy to spot moments when the writing on the wall was less than optimistic for Atlanta during the playoffs.
For instance, after a 2-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 1 of the NLDS. And then when Soler had to go on the COVID-19 injured list before that series ended. The 106-win Los Angeles Dodgers proved to be a relative pushover in the NLCS, but then Atlanta's win in Game 1 of the World Series was undercut by Morton's broken leg.
And yet, here is Atlanta on November 2. Champion of the baseball world. And all it had to do to get there was...well, what it had already been doing.
As great as the Astros offense was in its own right, it decisively lost the home run battle to Atlanta in the World Series by a final tally of 11-2. That made it 23 homers for Atlanta in the playoffs, the most of any team. Freeman, the reigning NL MVP, produced five of those, with another 12 coming from the team's four newest outfielders.
Defensively, getting a ground ball through Atlanta's infield was close to impossible throughout the playoffs. The foursome of Freeman, Albies, Swanson and Riley allowed just a .215 average on grounders, albeit with a slight rise in the World Series...all the way to .217.
As was the case for every other manager, Snitker had a hard time getting innings from his starters during the postseason. He was, however, handsomely rewarded for how much trust he put in the "Night Shift," and specifically in Smith, Minter and Matzek:
Smith: 11.0 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 0 R, 8 K
Minter: 12.0 IP, 8 H, 4 BB, 4 R, 18 K
Matzek: 15.2 IP, 10 H, 4 BB, 3 R, 24 K
These numbers will live forever alongside the gold-encrusted "World Series Champions" on the Baseball Reference page for Atlanta's 2021 season. Yet they won't tell the whole story, which will inevitably become confined to fading memories and increasingly obscure pieces of text and video.
What Smith, though, would have everyone remember about this Atlanta team is that it wasn't just a collection of guys who played well together. They were a team in every sense of what the word should mean:
Will Smith says analytics could never understand or measure the closeness of their team: ‘We legitimately love each other in there.’
Come 2022, this roster will surely look different. Though Morton and d'Arnaud signed contract extensions, the open market is set to call Freeman, Soler and Rosario. Especially given how they performed down the stretch, the interest in them in places other than Atlanta could be strong enough to lure each of them away.
For now, though, this is a matter for another day. What matters today is that the Commissioner's Trophy is in Atlanta's hands. And that, after all the team went through, the feeling couldn't possibly be better.
For parting words, it seems only right to use Freeman's: "Everything was thrown at us, and we overcame it. That's absolutely incredible to me."
Atlanta Braves' Jorge Soler celebrates a three-run home run during the third inning in Game 6 of baseball's World Series between the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
The Atlanta Braves won the 2021 World Series on Tuesday night with a convincing 7-0 win over the Houston Astros in Game 6, and right fielder Jorge Soler took home the MVP award. He became the second Cuban to win the trophy, joining former Florida Marlins pitcher Livan Hernandez.
Soler was phenomenal throughout the World Series and was a big reason why Atlanta won its first championship since a 1995 title captured by Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Chipper Jones and Co. Through six games, the 29-year-old hit .300/.391/.800 with three home runs and six RBI.
Most HR by Braves player in single postseason series:
2021 WS Jorge Soler: 3 2021 NLCS Eddie Rosario: 3 1995 WS Ryan Klesko: 3 1995 NLDS Marquis Grissom: 3 1991 WS Lonnie Smith: 3 1969 NLCS Henry Aaron: 3 1957 WS Henry Aaron: 3
Eddie Rosario, who hit .227/.346/.318 in the series was also a candidate to win the award, and many of the team's relievers, including Kyle Wright, could've been up for the honor, but Soler's impact was too significant to forget.
In the opening game of the World Series, Soler went 2-for-5 with one home run and two RBI. In Game 4, he only made one plate appearance as a pinch hitter but made it count as he hit the game-winning home run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Game 6 was also huge for Soler as he went 1-for-3 with one home run, 3 RBI and a walk. All of Soler's home runs in the World Series were go-ahead blasts.
World Series MVP is the highest individual award Soler has won in his MLB career, but his rise to fame this season has been impressive. During the first half of the season, he was hitting just .192/.288/.370 as a member of the Kansas City Royals before being traded to Atlanta.
Soler's move to the Braves helped rejuvenate his career. In 55 regular-season games with Atlanta, he hit .269/.358/.524 with 14 homers and 33 RBI.
The native of Cuba will become a free agent this winter and he should be one of the most sought-after outfielders on the market after winning his first career MVP award.
