Among the 25 World Series champions since 2000, how did the 2021 Braves land in this spot?
The Braves won just 88 regular season games, but remember that they had to play a huge chunk of the season without Ronald Acuna Jr. Acuna, in just 82 games, put up 3.5 wins above replacement while batting .283/.394/.596 with 24 home runs, 17 steals and 44 extra-base hits overall. Not having a full season of that guy will bring any team’s wins down.
That’s part of what makes the Braves winning the World Series without him so remarkable: they didn’t have Acuna around after July 10, as he tore his ACL midseason, and they still won it all. One of the best players in the league — Acuna would win MVP the next time he was fully healthy after a normal offseason of prep, in 2023 — just ripped out of the lineup at the halfway point.
Having Jorge Soler to fill in as the Braves right fielder was a huge help: Atlanta picked him up before the trade deadline while he was batting just .192/.288/.370 for the Royals, and he mashed to the tune of .269/.358/.524 with 14 homers in 55 games with the Braves. Not quite Acuna numbers, no, but Soler made sure there was no hole there, and then ended up winning World Series MVP after posting an 1.191 OPS with 3 homers against the Astros. Third baseman Austin Riley had his breakout year, winning the full-time job and bashing 33 homers in the first of three consecutive six-win seasons. Freddie Freeman, in his final season with the Braves, was Freddie Freeman: constantly on base, plenty of power and responsible for a .304/.420/.625 showing with five homers in the postseason.
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The offense was fine overall — just average, basically, but with some heavy hitters. The defense helped make up for that, with Riley, Ozzie Albies, Adam Duvall and Dansby Swanson all positive contributors there, while players like Soler hit more than enough to offset what they lacked in the field. This unit did more than enough to help their pitchers, at the plate and with their gloves — it was the staff that was the true star of this club.
Max Fried (3.04 ERA) and Charlie Morton (3.34 ERA) led a rotation without a true standout ace, but that got the job done thanks to depth and a stellar bullpen. Behind Fried and Morton was rookie Ian Anderson (3.58), while Drew Smyly and Huascar Ynoa didn’t rack up innings, but were at least average and better than that, respectively, in the starts they did make. The bullpen was loaded: Will Smith closed things out and did a great job of things, but it was setup men Luke Jackson (1.98 ERA in 71 games) and Tyler Matzek (2.57 ERA in 69 games) that comprised the bridge between the starters and Smith.
Another thing about 88 wins: these Braves took down the 95-win Brewers, 106-win Dodgers and 95-win Astros to get their title. And they went 11-5 doing it, too.
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