It began on October 5 1991 The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros for their eighth win in a row With it they clinched the National League NL West division title It began an amazing streak of 14 straight division titles The streak actually ran until 2005 That’s because a players strike ended the 1994 season early No team won division titles that year Only the New York Yankees can come close to the Braves record winning streak New York reached the playoffs 13 consecutive seasons from 1995 to 2007 THINK ABOUT IT Despite the Braves success they won only a single World Series The Yankees won four over the same 15-year period Do you still consider the Braves to be a great success Or does a team have to win championships to be successful Use examples to make your point 5 NL pennants won by the Braves from 1991 to 2005 Atlanta beat the Cleveland Indians to win their only World Series in 1995 The Braves won at least 100 games six times including a team-record 106 in 1998 They spent 1,632 days in first place during their 14-year run BRAVES WIN 14 STRAIGHT DIVISION TITLES 1 4
Every summer in Atlanta was a winner The Braves won 60 6 percent of their games from 1991 to 2005 That is an average of 98 wins per year Dozens of players had a role in the streak Atlanta always had a strong pitching staff The Big Three pitchers of Tom Glavine Greg Maddux and John Smoltz led the way Smoltz later became the team’s dominant closer Atlanta had no shortage of bats though Great hitters such as Chipper Jones Andruw Jones and Gary Sheffield played major roles too And the people running the team president Stan Kasten general manager John Schuerholz and field manager Bobby Cox were there the whole time Andruw Jones left and Rafael Furcal celebrate the Braves 2005 division title 5
Tom Glavine first pitched for the Atlanta Braves in 1987 John Smoltz pitched his first game one year later Then Greg Maddux joined the team in 1993 The trio became known as The Big Three They played together in Atlanta until 2002 Few pitching trios could compare The Big Three combined to win 648 games for the Braves And they did it in very different ways Maddux was nicknamed The Professor He didn’t overpower hitters Instead he tricked them with the movement on his pitches Glavine had excellent control He could throw fast or slow and always on target Smoltz had the best fastball of the bunch He also had a quick-diving split-finger pitch Each member of the Big Three won a Cy Young Award while with the Braves All three are in the Baseball Hall of Fame too They also led the Braves in the team’s most successful era In the 10 years they were teammates the trio led the Braves to the playoffs nine times The only time they missed the playoffs was in 1994 But THE BIG THREE ARE MASTERS OF THE MOUND John Smoltz pitches in a 1998 game 2 6
no team made the playoffs that year The season never finished due to a players strike But the Braves came back in 1995 and won their only World Series since they moved to Atlanta in 1966 SPAHN AND SAIN AND PRAY FOR RAIN The Braves still played in Boston in 1948 Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain were their best pitchers The pitchers were so good that a local sports editor wrote a poem about them In the poem he hoped for two days of rain after the two stars pitched That way they’d be rested and able to pitch every game The team’s slogan became Spahn and Sain and Pray for Rain 17 Combined All-Star Game selections for the Braves Big Three They combined to win six NL Cy Young Awards as Braves Greg Maddux led the NL in earned-run average ERA four times Tom Glavine was the 1995 World Series Most Valuable Player MVP John Smoltz is the only pitcher with at least 200 wins and 150 saves Tom Glavine left and Greg Maddux in 1994 7
