It's Hard Out Here for a Braves Fan

by Julian Spivey
It’s hard being a fan of the Atlanta Braves. I think you could make the argument it’s the hardest franchise in Major League Baseball of which to be a fan. I know there are a handful of teams that have never won the World Series like the Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners, Washington Nationals and others. I know the Mariners haven’t even been to the postseason in almost 20 years and the Cincinnati Reds currently have baseball’s longest postseason series win drought at almost 25 years.
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But the Braves playoff series win drought, which is currently tied with the Mariners for the third longest in baseball, as they haven’t won a playoff series since 2001 is in some ways even more devastating for the team’s fan-base because the Braves have been to the playoffs a lot. Since the Braves last won a postseason series beating the Houston Astros in the 2001 National League Division Series they have been to the postseason nine times and have lost in their first round – whether it’s the best-of-5 Division Series (a whopping eight times) or the single game do-or-die National League Wild Card round (once).

And, the latest elimination in game five of the NLDS at home against the St. Louis Cardinals is the most embarrassing moment of my 25 years as a Braves fan. I have a feeling many fans will agree with that assessment. The Braves were eliminated before they even stepped to the plate for their first at-bat of the game as Braves starting pitcher Mike Foltynewicz (who was excellent in game two of the series) and reliever Max Fried (who was a very good starting pitcher throughout the regular season) allowed the Cardinals to bat around and score a record 10 times in the top half of the first inning.

There was no coming back from that. It’s such a certainty that I’m actually writing this in the fourth inning of the game and it’ll likely be published before the final out is made.

The incredible embarrassment I’m feeling as a Braves fan right now isn’t just because it’s the ninth straight first round bow out or because they didn’t even give themselves a chance in the do-or-die fifth game of the series, but also because there shouldn’t have even been a fifth game of this series. The Braves could have had a sweep in three games had the bullpen not imploded late in game two of the series and they had the series win in reach in game four when the game got away from them again and they let what would’ve been a game-winning run stranded on third base after All Star outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. tripled to lead off an inning and the offense couldn’t move him a measly 90 feet.

There was also the play of perennial All Star Freddie Freeman, the greatest first baseman in Braves franchise history, who looked like an also ran the entire series and choked on the biggest stage possible.

But, choking on the biggest stage possible is the Braves modus operandi. It’s who this team has traditionally been. It’s the team that won 14 consecutive divisions and only brought home the World Series trophy once, despite having potentially the greatest rotation in the history of baseball led by three hall of famers in Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz who annually shared the Cy Young Award between them. Atlanta is the sports town of the ultimate sports choke of all-time when the city’s football team the Falcons couldn’t hold a 28-3 lead late against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI less than three years ago. It’s Choketown U.S.A. and the Braves have been at the center of it for most of the last 30 years.

But we remain fans because the team has had stellar players like the three aforementioned pitchers and hall of fame third baseman Chipper Jones, and Freeman and some of today’s most fun players to watch in Acuna and Ozzie Albies. It’s a team that you know is going to be in contention more often than not – which is easier to root for than say the San Diego Padres or Mariners. But it’s a team you can’t trust to do anything after game 162. Anything at all, except for disappoint. And that’s hard on a fan-base.

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