Looking Back | The 1995 Atlanta Braves

In 1995 the Atlanta Braves finally exercised the demons of past failures to win a World Series championship because in previous years in the early 90s,the Atlanta Braves was the Teflon Don of the baseball landscape.

In 1991 the Braves went from worst to first and eventually appeared in the World Series where there would eventually lose to the eventual champions of baseball which be the Minnesota Twins who also was part of the worst to first scenario. Then in 1992 after beating the Pittsburgh Pirates in 7 games in the NLCS, the Atlanta Braves faced the Toronto Blue Jays and would lose in 6 games against them. Then in 1993,the Braves faced the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS but lost to the Phillies who prevented them from reaching the World Series for the 3rd straight season.

So 1994 rolls around for the new baseball season where the season but abruptly ended because of the lockout. So the season was over for all the MLB teams. In 1995 things got back to normal for MLB as a whole because the season began on April 25th due to the lockout and strike. The season was shortened to 144 games instead of 162 games. 1995 MLB Baseball Season had expanded the postseason format due to debuting the League Divisional Series adding a wild card element to the situation as a best of 5 series instead of the ALCS or NLCS before that used to be the playoff format before everything changed in 1995.

Meanwhile the Atlanta Braves had a golden opportunity to seek redemption to get back to the World Series since 1992 plus for all the success the Braves had the moniker of being the Buffalo Bills of MLB because of no championship hardware. The Atlanta Braves had a 90-54 record which was the best record in the National League. The Braves beat the Colorado Rockies in 4 games in the Divisional Series. Then swept the Cincinnati Reds in 4 games in the NLCS. Finally the Atlanta Braves went back to the World Series to face the Cleveland Indians.

The pressure was squarely on the Braves so finally they was able get over the hump and win in 6 games to win the World Series. In Game 6 David Justice hit a clutch home run in the scoreless game in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Atlanta Braves were finally champions of baseball to cement their success in the 90s leading up to that point winning by score of 1-0.

The Braves had a great pitching staff like Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Greg Maddox. In the starting lineup there was newcomer Chipper Jones, David Justice, Marquis Grissom and Fred McGriff. Manager Bobby Cox and the Atlanta Braves of 1995 won the World Series 30 years ago reaching the climax of a dominant decade but unfortunately didn't win another World Series because the New York Yankees would have a dynasty beginning in 1996 beating the Atlanta Braves in 6 games and sweeping the Braves in 1999.