The Braves franchise has played in three cities during its long history in Major League Baseball, winning one World Series in each one of them: Boston in 1914, Milwaukee in 1957, and Atlanta in 1995. Now, after moving to the Deep South in 1966 and in their third ballpark (Fulton County Stadium, Turner Field, Truist Park), they have added a fourth world championship and second in their current hometown.
Atlanta shut down the favored Houston Astros' bats to take the Series in six games, taking the lead early in those games with their own offense piling up runs with contributions from Freddie Freeman, Eddie Rosario and Jorge Soler. Starting pitching from Max Fried, and a bullpen-by-committee featuring Will Smith (not that one) did the rest. The final game was a 7-0 Atlanta shutout with Freeman and Soler hitting balls out of the park, and Fried with a stellar pitching performance.
Atlanta made it to the Fall Classic as one of the least regarded division winners in the National League, having gone through periods of injuries and illnesses to key players while breaking in some new players. They beat the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers in the league playoffs.
The Astros, still trying to live down the signal-stealing scandal that overshadowed their 2017 championship, defeated the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox to be the American League's representatives again.
Atlanta's baseball team has its own baggage, and it has to do with the nickname Braves and all it encompasses. This has been going on at least since the team dominated baseball in the 1990s, and their fans are still performing the Tomahawk Chop at home games.
Cleveland's MLB team has changed its name to the Guardians, and the NFL franchise in the Nation's Capital is (for now) known as the Washington Football Team. Now that Atlanta's baseball team has won the World Series, they're not expected to change their name anytime soon.
Winning the Series also means payback for MLB taking last summer's All Star Game out of Atlanta because of Georgia's controversial decision to restrict voting privileges, and moved to Denver.
Atlanta paid tribute to the late Henry Aaron this season by putting his Number 44 in center field at Truist Park. The team also paid tribute to him by winning a World Series--something he did once in Milwaukee.
