The Atlanta Braves ran away with their first World Series win in decades, taking down the heavily favored Houston Astros in a six-game series. 

The series took off with Game 1 when the Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves faced each other for the first time on October 26. The Braves got an early start, leading off with a home run. Then, in the 4th inning, they were up 5-0, ending the game with a score of 6-2. 

In Game 2, the tables turned, and the Astros came back from their deficit, winning with a score of 7-2, with just one more run than the Braves got in the first game. 

The Braves continued to win in Game 3 with a shutout led by second-year pitcher Ian Anderson, marking their last game in Houston for the foreseeable future. 

Back in Atlanta for Game 4, the Braves kept it rolling with another win, taking it to the Astros with a 3-1 series lead. In Game 5, the Astros pulled out a 9-5 win against the Braves, staying alive for game 6. 

With the series at 3-2, Game 6 would either end the World Series, send the Astros back to Houston, or continue the seven-game series. Instead of continuing to game 7, the Braves wanted to cut the series short, beating the Astros in a 7-0 shutout. This final game was arguably the Braves’ best game of the playoffs. 

Playoffs

Though the Braves had won 88 games in the regular season, they were not heavily favored in the postseason. Coming into the 2021 season, they had only a 5.2% chance of winning the World Series, and right before the big game, they had a whopping 46% chance.

During the 2021 playoffs, the Atlanta Braves won three straight games to beat the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Division Series (NLDS ). They Won the National League Champion Series (NLCS) in six games. 

The Astros were the opposite; they were the most favored team in the American League (AL). They also have one of the hottest hitters in Major League Baseball (MLB), Yordan Alvarez. In the American League Champion Series (ALCS), he had 12 hits in 23 tries, drove in 6 people, and had a home run. He won the ALCS Most Valuable Player (MVP) as a result. 

Both the Braves and the Astros had close games against the teams they played in the playoffs. They both won their Division Series games 3-1 and their Championship Series 4-2. In addition, both the Astros and the Braves only took ten games to win their conference. 

Background

In the 2021 regular season, the Braves star pitchers Charlie Morton, Max Fried, and Ian Anderson had an astounding Earned Run Average (ERA) of 3.33. That didn’t seem to be a problem for the Astros, though. Half of their lineup had an OPS (On-Base Plus Slugging Percentage) of over .838. 

Even though this is a very good stat, it wasn’t all earned. Back in 2019, the Houston Astros decided to steal signs off opposing teams’ pitchers by banging on trash cans and using technology. These actions weren’t discovered until after the fact when ex Astros pitcher Mike Fiers came forward and told reporters what had been going on after being traded to the Tigers. 

This action was not tolerated by the MLB, who fined the Astros $5 million, the maximum amount of money allowed by the MLB constitution. They also lost their first, and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021. In addition, Astros Manager AJ Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow were each suspended for the entire 2020 season, including the playoffs. 

The Braves had a lot of ups and downs throughout the season. Their biggest loss was losing star outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. Many people thought the Braves had no chance of winning the World Series when they lost him, but they rallied the troops and won the 117th World Series.