10 One-Year Braves You Forgot About That Will Get You 1% on Immaculate Grid
You forgot about these one-year Braves, but so did everyone else, which is why they'd be perfect picks for your immaculate grid.
We've already covered current Braves that could save you on the immaculate grid, but there have been several Braves who only played for the team for a year that could give you that much desired 1% (or less) you want to beat your friends' Rarity Score.
Here are 10 I've found.
What is Immaculate Grid?
If you don't know what the Immaculate Grid is, it's an online trivia game that has gone viral through the baseball community this summer.
There's a new grid every morning at 9 a.m. and it looks something like this:
The goal of the game is to fill all nine squares. In each square, you have to guess a player who either played for both teams, like Frank Robinson for the Orioles and Reds square, or a player who accomplished a certain feat during their career while also playing for that team, like Jose Altuve and hitting above .300.
The game shows you the percentage of people who also guessed your pick, and the lower that percentage is, the lower your rarity score is. If you miss all nine tiles, your rarity score is 900, but if you guess nine picks that very few others guessed, you could get a zero.
10 One-Year Braves who can help you ace Immaculate Grid
10. Raul Mondesí
Teams played for: Dodgers (1993-1999), Blue Jays (2001-2002), Yankees (2002-2003), Diamondbacks (2003), Pirates (2004), Angels (2004), Braves (2005).
Potential 1% combos: Raul Mondesí is known for winning the Rookie of the Year with the Dodgers in 1994, but most fans likely forgot he even played for the Braves. A combo with any team will get you a sub-5%, but a combo without the Dodgers will likely be the most effective (Braves/Diamondbacks, Angels/Braves Pirates/Angels, Braves/Yankees).
9. Ray King
Teams played for: Cubs (1999), Brewers (2000-2002; 2007), Braves (2003), Cardinals (2004-2005), Rockies (2006), Nationals (2007; 2008)
Potential 1% combos: Essentially any combination of the teams he played for. King was a middle reliever who didn't stay on teams for very long and retired almost 15 years ago.
8. Gaylord Perry
Teams played for: Giants (1962-1971), Indians [Guardians] (1972-1975), Rangers (1975-1977; 1980), Padres (1978-1979), Yankees (1980), Braves (1981), Mariners (1982-1983), Royals (1983)
Potential 1% combos: Gaylord Perry spent a bunch of time with the Giants, but a combo with the Braves and a non-Giants team should do the trick (Braves/Rangers, Braves/Mariners, Braves/Royals, Braves/Padres). He's also an option for Braves/Hall-of-Famer.
7. Kenny Lofton
Teams played for: Astros (1991), Indians [Guardians] (1992-1996; 1998-2001; 2007), Braves (1997), White Sox (2002), Giants (2002), Pirates (2003), Cubs (2003), Yankees (2004), Phillies (2005), Dodgers (2006), Rangers (2007)
Potential 1% combos: Any combo that doesn't include the Guardians will do the trick. Lofton spent a lot of his caeer bouncing from team to team, and not many fans remember which teams he played for unless he played for yours. A Pirates/Braves combo or a Astros/Braves combo could get you even lower than 0.5%.
6. Jose Bautista
Teams played for: Orioles (2004), Devil Rays [Rays] (2004), Royals (2004), Pirates (2004-2008), Blue Jays (2008-2017), Braves (2018), Mets (2018), Phillies (2018).
Potential 1% combos: Jose Bautista is a well-known Blue Jays, so the best combos will probably be combining one of the four teams from his first year in the bigs with one of the three teams from his last year in the bigs.
Orioles/Braves, Rays/Braves, Royals/Braves are combos that Bautista is certainly not front of mind for.
Edwin Jackson
Teams played for: Dodgers (2003-2005), Devil Rays/Rays (2006-2008), Tigers (2009; 2019), Diamondbacks (2010), White Sox (2010-2011), Cardinals (2011), Nationals (2012; 2017), Cubs (2013-2015), Braves (2015), Marlins (2016), Padres (2016), Orioles (2017), Athletics (2018), Blue Jays (2019)
Potential 1% combos: Jackson played for more MLB teams than any other player. It's a good thing for all the team combos, but the 1% combinations are the teams he threw the least amount of innings for.
Braves/Orioles, Braves/Marlins, and Braves/Blue Jays will be your best bets.
Octavio Dotel
Teams played for: Mets (1999), Astros (2000-2004), Athletics (2004-2005), Yankees (2006), Royals (2007), Braves (2007), White Sox (2008-2009), Pirates (2010), Dodgers (2010), Rockies (2010), Blue Jays (2011), Cardinals (2011), Tigers (2012-2013)
Potential 1% combos: Like Jackson, Dotel is well known for playing for as many teams as he did. Still, a Braves combo with a team from a one of his shorter stints (Mets, Yankees, Royals, Dodgers, Rockies, Blue Jays, or Cardinals) will be a solid choice.
3. Jonny Gomes
Teams played for: Devil Rays/Rays (2003-2008), Reds (2009-2011), Nationals (2011), Athletics (2012; 2014), Red Sox (2013-2014), Braves (2015), Royals (2015)
Potential 1% combos: People are most likely to remember Gomes for his time with the Rays, Reds, and Red Sox, however, any combo with any of the teams he played for will likely yield a 5% result or better.
2. Matt Joyce
Teams played for: Tigers (2008), Rays (2009-2014), Angels (2015), Pirates (2016), Athletics (2017-2018), Braves (2019), Marlins (2020), Phillies (2021)
Potential 1% combos: Joyce is a great pick because he played for so many teams for just a year. A Braves/Marlins, Braves/Phillies, Braves/Angels, Braves/Rays, and Braves/Tigers are all combos that would likely give you that 1%.
1. Liván Hernández
Teams played for: Marlins (1996-1999), Giants (1999-2002), Expos/Nationals (2003-2006; 2009-2011), Diamondbacks (2006-2007), Twins (2008), Rockies (2008), Mets (2009), Braves (2012), Brewers (2012).
Potential 1% combos: While Hernandez had memorable stints with the Marlins and the Expos/Nationals, the other teams he played for are often forgotten. A Braves combo with any of the one-year stints he had with other team (Rockies, Mets, Brewers), could get you a very low result, while using him as with the Marlins or the Nationals might be a little more risky.