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With their 7-0 victory on November 2., the Atlanta Braves defeated the Houston Astros in six games, becoming the 2021 World Series Champions. This was the team’s fourth World Series pennant in franchise history and first since 1995.
This MLB season was a great one for many different reasons. The Angels’ Shohei Ohtani became the first real two-way player since Babe Ruth, being named a two-way All-Star as the American League’s starting pitcher and leadoff hitter. There were huge blockbuster deals made at the trade deadline, the kinds one would only imagine becoming true in a video game. Both the Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals decided to rebuild, sending some of the most exciting names in baseball, like the lightning-fast Trea Turner, the three-time Cy Young award winner Max Scherzer, the powerful slugger Anthony Rizzo, the game-changing Javier Baez, and former league MVP Kris Bryant all to new homes.
The month of October is reserved for the MLB playoffs, and getting there was no easy task for the 10 playoff teams. The playoffs allow for the winners of the six total MLB divisions, three in the National League, and three in the American League. There was additional space for four total wild card teams, two in the American League and two in the National League, who would face off in single-elimination games against each other to continue their seasons in the next best of five-game round.
Multiple playoff races came down to the very last game of the season. The National League West Division was decided by one game between two teams. The San Francisco Giants finished with 107 wins, while the Los Angeles Dodgers finished with 106 wins. These two teams finished with the third and fourth-most regular-season wins in the 21st century. The American League Wild Card between the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, and Seattle Mariners was a four-team battle until the very end of the season, with all four teams, including three from the American League East division finishing within two games of each other.
Playoff baseball is a time where all regular season methods of operation, and statistics are forgotten about for the time being. A time when a historically dominant hitter like Cody Bellinger can redeem his entire 2021 season with one swing of the bat. These are the games where it isn’t unreasonable to see a team like the Los Angeles Dodgers call their ace Max Scherzer out of the bullpen to earn the save in the final inning of a win or go home game.
The semifinals of the MLB playoffs, the National League Championship Series, and the American League Championship Series included the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Atlanta Braves, the Boston Red Sox, and the Houston Astros.
The heavily stacked Los Angeles Dodgers fell to the Braves in the NLCS. The Braves, despite losing their exciting young star Ronald Acuña Jr. to a torn ACL, were able to rely on their strong pitching and remaining sluggers, most notably Freddie Freeman and Austin Riley to win the series in six games.
On the American League side, the Red Sox, who had been defying everybody’s expectations all season, were unable to defeat the Houston Astros in six games. The Red Sox defeated their division rivals, the New York Yankees, and the Tampa Bay Rays along the way in the playoffs to get to this point. Despite Boston’s centerfielder Kiké Hernandez hitting an astounding .408 over 49 at-bats in this year’s MLB playoffs, including three home runs in the ALCS, the Astros were able to outlast Boston to advance to their third World Series appearance in the last five years.
The Houston Astros came into the 2021 World Series as favorites, but it was the underdog Atlanta Braves and their controversial “chop” celebration that came out victorious, again in six games. The Houston Astros deep lineup struggled for the majority, paving the way for the Braves fiery bats and shut down bullpen to lead them to victory.
As the page turns and the offseason begins, it will be especially interesting what roster moves are made. Most notably this winter will feature one the best shortstop free agent classes in recent history with six former all-stars going on the market.
