A Look at the 1995 Atlanta Braves

Major League Baseball went through a lot of changes after the 1993 season. Let's start with the positive one. MLB decided to realign their divisions; for 25 seasons (1969-1993), there were four divisions, with the American and National Leagues each having an East and West Division. When the Colorado Rockies and the Florida Marlins joined MLB in 1993, that gave the league a grand total of 28 teams--seven teams in each division. That is definitely more than enough to modify the divisions.

Here's how the divisions were realigned. In the American League, the Cleveland Indians and the Milwaukee Brewers were taken from the AL East, and placed with the Chicago White Sox, the Minnesota Twins, and the Kansas City Royals from the AL West, to form the American League Central. In the National League, the Chicago Cubs, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Pittsburgh Pirates were taken from the NL East, and placed with the Cincinnati Reds and the Houston Astros from the NL West to form the National League Central. In addition, the Atlanta Braves were finally properly placed in the NL East after being in the NL West since Divisional Play began in 1969.

This divisional format debuted in 1994, along with a huge change to the postseason format. With three divisions in each league, a fourth playoff team was added in each league, known as the Wild Card. The Wild Card was the best 2nd-place team in their respective league, and with four playoff teams in each league, a new opening round was added: the Division Series. The League Division Series (LDS) is a best-of-five series that determines who plays for the pennant. While the realigned divisions debuted in 1994, we would not see the new postseason that year, because the 1994 season was halted by the crippling strike.

The strike came to an end in the spring of 1995, resulting in a late start to that season, as well as that year being trimmed down from the normal 162 games to 144 games. I mentioned the Braves, they entered the 1995 season having won three straight NL West titles, but they now found themselves in the five-team NL East with the Florida Marlins, the Montréal Expos, the New York Mets, and the defending division and pennant winners, the Philadelphia Phillies. The Braves lost Terry Pendleton and Ron Gant to other teams, but ended up with Marquis Grissom in a deal with the Expos, who famously had their best team ever in 1994. Grissom joined a Braves squad that had Javy Lopez, Mark Lemke, David Justice, Fred McGrifff, and of course, Chipper Jones.

McGriff led the team in the main categories, but when it came to pitching, oh wow! For years, the Braves had that three headed monster in their rotation, and we know the names. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz--that was the trio. Maddux was the wins leader; a 19-2 record with a league leading 1.63 ERA. Lefty Glavine went 16-7 with a 3.08 ERA, and Smoltz went 12-7 with a 3.18 ERA, and led the team in strikeouts with 193.

The Braves had an up-and-down start to the 1995 season; starting 20-17 before going on a winning tear before the break. They led the division by the All-Star Break and they never let up. The Braves finished with a record of 90-54 and won the five-team NL East by 21 games over the Phillies and Mets, who were tied with identical 69-75 records. The tally was good enough to serve as the National League's top record, and the Braves' postseason began with MLB's first official Division Series (not counting the 1981 version that was created as a result of a brief strike that year). The Braves faced off against the Wild Card Colorado Rockies in their series; the Rockies having reached the postseason in their third season of play. That year, the LDS was played under the 2-3 format that allowed the lower seed to have the first two games at home, while the rest of the series would be played at the site of the better seed. It didn't hamper the Braves; they won Games One and Two in Coors Field, and even though they were blasted in Game Three at home, the Braves would finish it off in Game Four to advance to the NLCS.

In that year's National League Championship Series, the Braves faced off against the Cincinnati Reds, who were the very first winners of the new National League Central and had swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in their NLDS series to advance. This was a fitting matchup in more ways than one. For one, the Braves and Reds spent 25 years misplaced in the NL West together, and secondly, Ron Gant was traded from Atlanta to Cincy prior to the season starting. In fact, it was Gant who opened the scoring for Cincy in Game One, but the Braves would tie it in the ninth, and would win it 2-1 in the 11th. It would be all Braves from that point on; a 6-2 10-inning victory in Game Two, and the series shifted to Atlanta, where they would win the next two games (5-2 in Game Three and 6-0 in Game Four) to complete the sweep and win their third pennant in five seasons.

Oh, and before I continue, I have to mention this. The Reds were managed by the late, great Davey Johnson--yes, that Davey Johnson; the skipper of the famous 1986 Mets squad. So get this: early in that season, Reds owner Marge Schott announced that regardless of how the team fared, Johnson would not return to the Reds. Why, you ask? Apparently, Schott had a problem with Johnson and his girlfriend being unmarried and living together. Imagine being lectured on "purity" by a woman who was, for all intents and purposes, a Nazi. Johnson was let go after taking the Reds to the NLCS. It would be 15 years before they would reach the postseason again. As for a postseason series win, well, Cincy's still waiting for that--the 1995 NLDS remains their most recent postseason series victory.

As for the Braves, the 1995 World Series would see them face off against the Cleveland Indians, who were the only team to finish with a better record than Atlanta. Cleveland had 100 wins in the 144-game season, and after decades of bad seasons and being a punchline on Garfield and Friends, the then-named Indians finished with baseball's best record and served as the first winners of the new American League Central. Cleveland swept the AL East Champion Boston Red Sox in the ALDS, and then defeated the AL West Champion Seattle Mariners in a six-game ALCS to win their first pennant since 1954. Despite Cleveland's better record, the Braves had home field advantage because MLB was picking up from where the rotation left off following the strike (in 1993, the American League had home field advantage in that World Series).

The Braves won the first two games, 3-2 in Game One and 4-3 in Game Two, thanks to stellar pitching from Greg Maddux (G1) and Tom Glavine (G2). The scene shifted to Cleveland's Jacobs Field, where Cleveland knocked around John Smoltz and sent him packing after three innings. The Braves did catch up with a big eighth inning, and it was tied at six after nine innings. After nothing in the 10th, Eddie Murray ended it in the bottom of the 11th with a walkoff RBI single, sealing Cleveland's 7-6 win. The Braves would win Game Four behind a dominant pitching performance from Steve Avery (the Braves' fourth wheel in that rotation--in later years it would be Denny Neagle), a 5-2 win to put the Braves up 3-1 in the Series. Game Five saw Cleveland strike first, and despite Atlanta's attempts to catch up, Cleveland held on and won, 5-4, to force a return to Atlanta.

Game Six is personal for me, because this is actually the earliest World Series memory I have. I remember actually watching David Justice's sixth inning solo shot, and I remember it being the only run in the game. Cleveland was getting nothing off Tom Glavine; he only gave up one hit, and that also came in the sixth inning. Mark Wohlers closed the door in the ninth, and with that nail-biting pitchers' duel victory, the Atlanta Braves were World Champions!

The Atlanta Braves clinched their third World Championship in franchise history on Saturday, October 28, 1995, and they made history as the only franchise to win championships in three different cities. They won the 1914 World Series when the team was based in Boston, and it was the old Milwaukee Braves who won in 1957--their last championship until this one. Tom Glavine (one of the reasons why I'm fascinated by left-handed pitchers) was named World Series MVP; he went 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA, and it was centered by his eight innings of one-hit ball in Game Six. The city of Atlanta had a championship for the very first time, as (at that time) Atlanta had the Braves, Hawks, and Falcons, and it would be four years until they would get the NHL back when the Thrashers debuted in 1999.

For the Braves, this was a long time coming. This iteration of the Braves is the most notable one in franchise history, mainly because of their "worst-to-first" 1991 campaign, which started their division title streak. 1991 saw the Braves as the victims of the 10-inning shutout, 1992 saw them lose to the Blue Jays, and 1993 saw them defeated in the NLCS by the Phillies. A Braves fan was shown with a placard that said "...Finally!" after the final out was recorded, as the Braves had been close, but no cigar in years past.

However, as well all know very well, in Atlanta's entire 14-year division title streak, 1995 was their only ring. The Braves returned to the World Series a year later in 1996, but they were defeated by the New York Yankees. Following back-to-back NLCS defeats, the Braves returned to the World Series in 1999, only to lose to the Yankees again. The Braves wouldn't win another pennant until 2021, though that did result in a World Championship. Oh, and one of the announcers for that World Series in 2021? None other than John Smoltz.

There's always something kinda special about the first season of any sport following a strike, or lockout, or in the case of recent years, a COVID shutdown. Regarding 1995, it marked the official introduction of a modified postseason format that lasted for 17 seasons, and it ended with the Atlanta Braves emerging as champions and igniting a strong sports city. Those 90s/early 2000s Braves were fun to watch. They were always in it, they were a strong force in the National League, and they were an absolute powerhouse. Some consider the fact that they only won once in that 14-year stretch a failure. I don't see it that way. The Braves had some stiff competition, but despite it all, they persevered and won it all that year. The Braves' 1995 championship is the stuff of legends, and it should be treated as such.