Atlanta Braves Opening Day countdown: 93 and 92, fall heroics
The regular season for the Atlanta Braves opens with a game in Philadelphia on the afternoon of March 28, 2019. We count down the days until the season opens!
We at Tomahawk Take are very excited for the Atlanta Braves season opener on March 28 in Philadelphia! We will be counting down to the day with Braves related numbers all the way until Opening Day 2019!
With the Christmas holiday falling on day 93 and a blizzard hitting my area today, day 92, we’re going to combine the two as they have a common theme. In 1991, the Atlanta Braves found their way to the postseason for the first time since 1982, and their first 90-win season since 1969.
That season led to one of the most classic 7-game World Series of all-time with the Minnesota Twins coming out on top in an epic 1-0 10-inning Game 7. That 1991 World Series appearance was the first time the team had been to the World Series since 1958.
Most know the story from there – the Atlanta Braves went on to win every finished division title from 1991 to 2005, one of the most impressive streaks of success in baseball history. It was the first two seasons following that worst-to-first 1991 season that we will highlight here.
Though it will be backward in our countdown, we are going to start with the incredible postseason moment that the 1992 National League Championship Series provided for the Atlanta Braves. That same moment would essentially turn the fortunes for the Braves’ NLCS opponent for 25 years.
The next one will be a reflection on the regular season pennant race of 1993, a pennant race that had all kinds of great things to remember.
Let’s get started with our look at ’92…
The 1992 NLCS
It can be hard to remember just the amount of talent that the Pittsburgh Pirates had accumulated in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This was one of the elite teams in all of baseball, with arguably the game’s best all-around player as well as excellent pieces around him in the lineup, along with a pitching staff that was among the best in the league and very deep.
The Pirates that season won 96 games. They were led by 27-year-old Barry Bonds, heading into a contract year by hitting .311/.456/.624 with 36 doubles, 5 triples, 34 home runs, and 39 stolen bases, with a 127/69 BB/K ratio. His primary support in the lineup was fellow outfielder Andy Van Slyke, who hit .324/.381/.505 with 45 doubles, 12 triples, 14 home runs, and 12 stolen bases.
The jewel of that team was its pitching, so good that future 20 game winner Denny Neagle was the team’s swingman, essentially the 7th starter. The Pirates rode the elite pitching of their ace, Doug Drabek, who won 15 games and completed 10 games, hurling 256 2/3 innings, with a 2.77 ERA and 177 strikeouts.
Only Randy Tomlin tossed 200+ innings in the Pirates rotation that season alongside Drabek, but the performance of young Tim Wakefield and veteran Danny Jackson gave the Pirates a formidable playoff rotation, and they could pick among a number of pitchers who had excellent seasons for the bullpen.
The Braves in 1992 were led again by 1991 NL MVP Terry Pendleton, who led the team with a .311/.345/.473 line, posting the top numbers on the team in runs, doubles, home runs, RBI, and batting average. The Braves got excellent work from their outfield, but the real sparkplug was young dual-sport star Deion Sanders, who played in 97 games in 1992, hitting .304/.346/.495, leading the team in OPS, with 14 triples, 8 home runs, and 26 stolen bases.
Tom Glavine broke through in 1991 with a big year, but the team truly was led by a three-headed pitching monster in 1992 as John Smoltz, Steve Avery, and Tom Glavine tallied over 700 innings among them and won a combined 46 games, completing 18 among the trio.
The Series
A very good 1992 and his dominant performance in the 1991 postseason earned John Smoltz the game 1 start, and he outdueled Pirates ace Doug Drabek 5-1, as the Braves took a 1-0 series lead. That lead would jump out to 2-0 as the Braves pounded Pittsburgh starter Danny Jackson for 13 runs in a Game 2 victory in support of Steve Avery.
The floating knuckler of Tim Wakefield left the Braves dumbfounded throughout the series, and the Pirates used a complete game from Wakefield to defeat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 in game 3. The Braves followed their playoff ace to a 3-1 series lead in game 4 with a 6-4 victory as Smoltz struck out 9 over 6 1/3 innings and even got a 2-3 performance at the plate from their hurler, including a stolen base.
At that point, the Atlanta Braves began to make plans for the World Series. They were up 3-1 with Avery and Glavine to come in the rotation, and the series would return back to Atlanta for the final two games after game 5, so even if they dropped that game, they would be in good shape.
Instead, the Pirates so thoroughly dominated the Braves in game 5 and game 6 that the general consensus among most on a national scale is that the Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates were even headed into game 7.
The Final Inning
For 8 innings, the Atlanta Braves looked like they would be going home for the offseason after game 7. Going into the bottom of the 9th, the score was 2-0 Pirates, and Drabek was cruising.
The 3-4-5 of the Braves lineup was coming up, and Terry Pendleton led off the bottom of the 9th with a double down the right field line that landed him on 2nd base. A routine ground ball to typically sure-handed Jose Lind ended up turning into an error, putting David Justice at first base and Pendleton at third.
Sid Bream ended Drabek’s night by drawing a walk, loading the bases with no outs. Jim Leyland went to his closer, Stan Belinda. Belinda drew a deep fly out from Ron Gant that scored Pendleton, bringing the score to 2-1 Pirates. Damon Berryhill drew a walk from Belinda, loading the bases.
Brian Hunter came to the plate with the bases loaded and one out, and he was hacking, popping up a ball behind the second base bag on an 0-1 pitch. That brought Francisco Cabrera to the plate.
Cabrera lined a 2-1 pitch to short left field, scoring Justice easily. Bream, running on bad knees, rounded third, forcing the issue on left fielder Bonds, who at that time was known to have a strong arm. His throw, however, was up the first base line, giving just enough room for Bream to slide in safely, and the Atlanta Braves to return to the World Series on one of the most memorable plays in franchise history!
Now, going backwards in the countdown but forward in the timeline, we look at the 1993 pennant race:
The 1993 pennant race
After losing the 1992 World Series to the Toronto Blue Jays, the Atlanta Braves made a big splash in free agency in the 1992-1993 offseason. While the team pursued Barry Bonds, they ended up signing Greg Maddux, and his presence at the top of the rotation made the Braves incredibly formidable.
Maddux lived up to all of his big money billing, going 20-10 in his first year with the Braves, with a 2.36 ERA over 267 innings, with a 52/197 BB/K ratio, winning the NL Cy Young. Incredibly, the 1993 Atlanta Braves used just 13 pitchers the entire season, something nearly unheard of just 25 years later.
The team got amazing performances all around, with Jeff Blauser taking over the starting shortstop job and hitting .305/.401/.436 with 29 doubles, 15 home runs, and 16 stolen bases. Ron Gant hit .274/.345/.510 with 27 doubles, 4 triples, 36 home runs, and 26 steals. The power man throughout the season was rightfielder David Justice, who hit .270/.357/.515 with 40 home runs on the season, driving in 120.
All of that excellence still had the Braves struggling to pull away in the National League West in 1993, however, so the Braves made one of the most impressive mid-season deals of franchise history, acquiring Fred McGriff. McGriff would go on to hit .310/.392/.612 over 68 games as a Brave, with 19 home runs and 55 RBI in that time, driving the team toward the pennant.
That would be no cakewalk, however.
McGriff was acquired on July 18th as the Atlanta Braves were in the midst of a stretch of games that would end with them 10 games back of first place on July 22nd. They were trailing the San Francisco Giants, the team who had signed the venerable Bonds and were enjoying a league-leading power performance from their new slugger, as he hit .336/.458/.677 with 46 home runs and 29 stolen bases.
The Giants had a tremendous offense, led by Bonds, but he had a very good supporting cast as well. Matt Williams had an .886 OPS and hit 38 home runs. Robby Thompson had a big year, with a .312 batting average, .870 OPS, 19 home runs, and 10 steals.
The Giants weren’t just about the bats, though. Their rotation was led by two 20-game winners, with Bill Swift winning 21 and John Burkett winning 22. In their bullpen, Rod Beck was arguably the most dominant closer in the National League, saving 48 games and striking out 86 over 79 1/3 innings, with a 2.16 ERA.
The Atlanta Braves needed one of the best second-half records in recent history as they won 19 games in each of July, August, and September, going 60-24 for a winning percentage of .714 and a run differential of 453 runs scored to 285 runs allowed.
In spite of that great performance, the Braves didn’t even hold first place until September 11th, and they’d never completely give it back. The final week of the season was incredible, however.
On Tuesday, September 28, Maddux was outdueled by the Astros, while the Giants defeated the expansion Colorado Rockies. That brought the two teams tied with less than a week left.
The Braves hosted the Colorado Rockies to close out the season, while the Giants traveled to their fiercest rival, the Los Angeles Dodgers. On Friday, October 1st, 1993, Steve Avery won his 18th game for the Braves as they defeated the Rockies. The Giants followed by defeated the Dodgers as Burkett picked up his 22nd win.
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Greg Maddux shut down the Rockies on Saturday to pick up his 20th win of the season. The Giants responded by defeating Dodgers ace Orel Hershiser to keep pace with the Braves, both at identical 103-58 records.
On the final day, the Atlante Braves tossed first pitch at 12:10 PM Eastern. Just a hair after 3 PM Eastern, Greg McMichael struck out Daryl Boston to ice the Atlanta Braves 104th win. The Braves would now have to wait.
The Giants and Dodgers threw first pitch roughly an hour after the Braves game ended. Little did we know that less than an hour into the game, Eric Karros would drive in what would be the game-winning run with a double that just missed going out, scoring the game’s second run. That’s all Kevin Gross would need on the day. Gross tossed a complete game, allowing just 1 run and striking out 5 as he shut down the Giants, making the Braves division winners!
Next. Braves New Year's resolutions. dark
While some may discount the excitement of that year’s race because the team fell short in the NLCS against the Phillies, the 1993 Atlanta Braves had one of the most memorable pennant races in team history!