Bane of the Braves

Atlanta's run has been admirable, but also disappointing

All right, let's talk a little baseball. No, really -- baseball ... games. Let's open up to the sports pages and check the standings. There, the team with the best record in the American League is, yes, of course, naturally, the New York Yankees. And the team with the best record in the National League, in all of baseball, is the Atlanta Braves.

How is this possible? The Braves are some sort of dull phenomenon -- old reliable. They're as steady as a car payment bill. They're incredibly dependable but never glamorous, and, in the end, usually disappointing. They're sort of like those actors who do very well in every television series they star in, but flop whenever they appear in a real big-screen movie.

It may not be fair, but years from now, nobody will remember these Braves, these great hobgoblins of consistency. People will remember the Yankees, that's for sure, and the Red Wings and the Bulls and the Cowboys and the Lakers, and Tiger Woods and Pete Sampras. But the Braves will be, at best, an afterthought. This despite a record for stalwart stability that is the best of this era.

Since 1991, the Braves have never failed to win at least a division title (except in 1994, when a strike ended the season prematurely). The Braves have won 10 consecutive division titles, and an 11th is guaranteed if this season is completed. Yet for all those triumphs of the spring and summer, Atlanta has only gone on to five World Series, winning just one.

Odious though it may be, comparison to the contemporary Yankees is obligatory -- especially inasmuch as the two teams are formed in very much the same image. The managers, Bobby Cox and Joe Torre , are two unflappable, wise old souls. Both teams have a magnificent way of finding just the right players. If the Yankees have the cash, the Braves have the genius of general manager John Schuerholz. Both teams are grounded in pitching. Neither has ever produced any great slugging star. They just both put up solid lineups. And yet, in the autumn, the Yankees rise to glory and the Braves descend to ordinary.

It's almost impossible to understand why bad things happen to good teams. I'm sure, in that trite sports pop psychology, the Braves want it every bit as much as everybody else. Maybe luck plays a larger role in sports than we want to grant it. I do think the two hometowns are a factor. If the teams were reversed and it had been Yankees who had teased New York year after year, the fans and the newspapers and talk radio would have excoriated them as heartless chokes.

Atlanta has been more accepting of its nearly men. But then, it's never been a very passionate place -- especially in comparison with the rest of the South. In fact, this is probably why it rose, in its pragmatism, over the rest of Dixie. Fifty years ago, Atlanta and Birmingham were the same size. Birmingham, like a lot of the South, was frozen emotionally in time. Atlanta got down to business and became the leader of the New South. But the fervor that is so evident in a New York stadium is missing in Atlanta. Maybe players feed off that. Maybe that makes a difference in the postseason.

Apologists for the Braves maintain that the true mark of a champion is to play well, year in, year out. And yes, showing up may be half of life. But, sorry, the truth is that we play championships for a reason: To find out who the champions are.

Sports Illustrated senior contributing editor Frank Deford's latest novel, "An American Summer" (Sourcebooks Trade), is available now at bookstores everywhere. Deford is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com and appears each Wednesday on National Public Radio's Morning Edition.

 

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