The Finale
In a late Tuesday night game at Minute Maid Park, the Atlanta Braves defeated the Houston Astros 7-0 in shutout fashion, leading to a 4-2 Series Victory! Braves pitcher Max Fried dominated in his 2nd start this series, chucking 6 Innings with 6 K’s as well as no earned runs or walks. Despite being scoreless, the Astros managed 6 hits while the Braves only had 7. The specific madness of this game started when Jorge Soler's 446-foot bomb was sent out of the stadium. Winning their first World Series since 1995, the Braves were nothing short of ecstatic after this historic victory. Especially since it continues to be a wonder for how the Braves made the World Series in the first place. On July 11th, the team placed Ronald Acuña Jr. on the 60-Day IL with an ACL tear, missing the remainder of the season. The young star was supposed to be with the team in the heat of their playoff push, but that was not the case. Instead, Austin Riley’s greatness and Franchise Freddie’s .300/.393/.503 slash line in 600 at-bats pushed this offense. Along with Acuna’s injury, they also received bad news regarding their up-and-coming pitcher, Mike Soroka, who was determined to be out for the season. It was quite an emotional roller coaster for Braves fans this year. Although in the end, they still prevailed. The Astros were also having a great run this season. The team's success undoubtedly came from the surprising greatness of a couple of their young starters. After losing Cole and Keuchel a few years ago, it was easy to count this team out, especially with their cheating scandal. Most, including myself, thought that this offense would take a hit since they couldn’t get tipped pitches anymore at the plate. Christian Javier, Framber Valdez, and Luis Garcia all combined for a sub 3.5 ERA this season. With all the success that both of these teams had to get them where they did in 2021, let's take a moment to reflect on what each of the Authors thought was going to happen this postseason.
Author Picks
Author's Note: *point system based off of NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament challenge*
Dylan: 8 points
Dylan was the most successful amongst the Authors due to his projected success of the Astros going far into the postseason. The Stros were one of Dylan's favorite teams this season and sided with them despite all of the bad blood that had occurred between them and the rest of the baseball fans in the United States this year. However, Dylan did not see much success in the Braves this postseason as the Brewers were playing good baseball approaching the playoffs with hopes of Christian Yelich to be what he used to be.
Matt: 6 Points
Matt certainly has some of the more old fashioned thoughts and picks amongst the Authors, he chose a lot more of the teams that were playing well up to the postseason, likewise, the Giants winning the world series was because they were not slowing down, traded for Bryant at the deadline, and there rich postseason success in the past. Matt also likes the GM’s of both of the teams he chose in the world series being Erik Neander and Scott Harris.
Will: 6 Points
Will’s picks were a lot like my own, however, saw much more success in the white sox and Braves than what I had seen. The best pick I think Will made was without a doubt his projected NLCS Dodgers vs Braves. Again following the common trend that the Brave's success could only go so far was common amongst all the authors.
Beatty: 3 Points
Despite having the lowest score amongst the authors, allow me to defend my case. The White Sox this season have been certainly playing good baseball, despite losing players like Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez for most of the year, the rotation was much more well-rounded and a decent bullpen. The Giants and Dodgers series was the only one I got correct except for the Dodgers vs Cardinals Wild card game. I chose the Dodgers to make it decently far, like most anticipating the Giants to be a semi-fluke at some point this season. As for the rest of the picks, the teams I chose just weren’t as good as I had anticipated them to be.
All in all, the Authors this postseason didn’t necessarily do too great. The statistics took over some of us as well as the roster illusion with teams such as the Dodgers. If there is one thing we all learned from this postseason, it would be to not count out the small teams just because they don’t have their star player.
Comments