Many Atlanta Braves fans remember the teams from the 1990s fondly, and for good reason. Not only did the Braves win a World Series in 1995 to end a long drought, but those squads were loaded with Hall of Famers like Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Chipper Jones, and Andruw Jones, not to mention Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox. It was a golden age of Braves baseball, but it didn't come without some familiar disappointment.
While the Braves did win a World Series during their previous dynasty, there is still a feeling of what might have been. On paper, it really does feel like Atlanta should have won more rings. Sure, winning all of those division titles was nice, but you will struggle to find any Braves fan who thinks those teams truly reached their potential.
Unfortunately, this current Braves squad, which finds itself on the verge of playoff elimination at the hands of the Dodgers again following their loss in Game 3 of the NLDS, may suffer an even greater disappointment.
This Braves era is poised to be an even greater disappointment than those '90s Atlanta teams
There are some similarities between the two Braves eras. Both teams had dominant division runs in the National League East (and the NL West in the early 1990's before the divisions were fixed), and both teams have a slew of franchise greats on their rosters. After that, we start to see their paths diverge.
While this current Braves team also has one World Series win so far, their previous dynasty was much better at making deep playoff runs. Those Cox-led squads played in five World Series in the 90s and added three more NLCS appearances. In comparison, this current Braves era since 2018 has just one World Series appearance plus an NLCS finish in 2020. Every other year has resulted in an early playoff exit.
There are other parallels as well. Both teams have players that seemed to be on the cusp of greatness, only to have their careers derailed by injuries. Both teams also had to deal with all-time juggernauts, with the '90s squads having to go up against the Yankees and this version of the Braves having the Dodgers to deal with. It is kind of funny how similar the two stories are, but this era will almost certainly not be as fondly remembered unless Atlanta can figure out how to make some more deep runs in the postseason.
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