Something interesting about Braves teams in World Series

[DevilsEve666]

For Braves fans the 90's were bittersweet...as we all know they went to the World Series in 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, and 1999 (only winning it all in 1995)
I was just looking at old box scores from these games, trying to figure out WHAT the heck went wrong trying to jar my memory and i noticed something that i hadn't ever heard noted before....What i noticed was from 1991-1996 they lost a total of 14 world series games and 11 of those games were lost by 1 run!!!!!

I mean if that's not a managing problem i don't know what is...i'm looking foward to a new era in Atlanta, and i'm kinda glad Bobby's moving on...i mean i love the guy, but the only reason the Braves won in 1995 was because Mike Hargrove was simply worse than bobby...To me Bobby Cox is the greatest manager ever for the 162 game schedule, but maybe one of the worst managers in the world series in my opinion (i know he's not literally NOT the worst but bobby's winning percentage in the world series was only .370) With the teams Ted Turner provided him with we should have at least 3...any other atlanta fans here or anyone else please tell me your opinion on this

BTW i think A LOT of the games left on MLB network's 20 greatest games are gonna be Braves losses in the world series (you know 1991 game 7 is gonna be in there, and you know 1996 game 4 is gonna be in there, and possibly 1999 game 3) So get ready to relive the heartache.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Something interesting about Braves teams in World Series

This thread makes me angry. The losses still haunt me.

Lots of things out of managerial control in the series losses, in my opinion. Going up against the Yankee buzzsaw in 1999, Wohlers blowing the lead in Game 4 in 1996, and the rest is history, the Twins series obviously could have gone either way.....

You don't get to five World Series by being a crappy postseason manager. Lack of defense and no timely hitting were common themes in playoff failures, especially during the tail end of our run (2000-2005)

Sad indeed, but no need to dwell. With any luck, we'll be embarking on a new run of contending.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: Something interesting about Braves teams in World Series

Have they showed Game 6 from '91 yet? Because both 6 and 7 from that series could arguably be on that list. Can't wait to watch 7. That's gotta be top 3, right?

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Something interesting about Braves teams in World Series

I guarantee Game 7 will be on it, I'm not sure about Game 6.

Is there a list of the ones aired already?

[Sportsforever]

Re: Something interesting about Braves teams in World Series

1-run games are actually more a result of luck, not managerial skill (this has been proven). The Braves had a string of bad luck that wasn't helped by the fact they weren't built for success in October. If you needed a team to win over 162 games, they were perfect for it. In a 5 or 7 game series, they never had the dominant bullpen/closer you need to win in the post season and they never had the kind of offense that could generate runs when they weren't hitting homers.

The thing I find interesting is that the 1995 version of the Braves was probably the weakest of all their WS teams and it actually won. They were the only Braves team I can recall that actually played better in the post season than they had in the regular season.

[theaub]

Re: Something interesting about Braves teams in World Series

I think they lost every game in '92 by one run, and none of them close were Cox's fault (except maybe Game 6 when he left Leibrandt out to face Winfield). Reardon just blew the whole series.

[SPTO]

Re: Something interesting about Braves teams in World Series

I don't think it's necessarily bad managing though bullpen management was never Cox's strong suit. In fact, quite a bit of the blame for the '85 ALCS can be laid on Cox's hands as he badly used the Jays bullpen at the time.

A lot of the Braves problems in those years simply come to circumstances, luck, and guys who were generally "go to" guys completely crapping the bed in the biggest moments. I recently saw Game 7 of the '91 Series and you certainly can't blame Cox for that. I will be watching Game 6 of that series in about a week or two. As I recall that's also a game where it was more circumstances and bad luck rather than bad managing.

[DevilsEve666]

Re: Something interesting about Braves teams in World Series

i just tend to want to place the blame with Bobby (not in all cases of course) because he was SOOO bad at managing his pitchers...he constantly let his starters get into tough situations long after they were tired and then let relievers face 1-2 batters more than they probably should...

I mean yeah everyone knows about the "liebrandt" deal, but what about having the ultimate in anti-clutch Andruw jones striking out to end every important series, or not allowing arguably the best postseason pitcher OF ALL TIME pitch until game three of a world series? (john smoltz, you might have heard of him) or the benching of ozzie guillen in '98 who was batting .420 in the postseason that year, and benching Michael Tucker after HE WON the game the night before (also in the '98 NLCS as i recall) Should i keep on going? Bobby never managed outside of the "bobby-philosphy" which was what ultimately failed him in clutch and do-or-die situations...relying too much on L vs. R matchups and hunches.

i think if Torre were managing the Braves in 96, and Bobby w/ the yanks THEN the Braves would have won...i know that's not really fair to bobby, but that's just the way i feel...

The most glaring sign of bad managing is when you loose to a less talented team, which the braves did in MANY a postseason series (not the world series specifically here)

[ImTellinTim]

Re: Something interesting about Braves teams in World Series

I guarantee Game 7 will be on it, I'm not sure about Game 6.

Is there a list of the ones aired already?

http://mlb.mlb.com/network/games_airdates/

I was at #16

If both of those '01 Series games are there, both '91 games should be too.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Something interesting about Braves teams in World Series

I think the Braves/Astros Game 4 NLDS game might be on there too at some point.

[DevilsEve666]

Re: Something interesting about Braves teams in World Series

There were 50 games that were voted online by fans to decide the top 20...and the 2005 nlds game was in there, so was game 6 and 7 from '91, and game 4 from '96, also the Sid Bream slide in '92 NLCS (i think if my memory serves me there were 6 Braves games of the 50 that were voted on) and none of them have been shown yet, so there should at least be 2 in the top 8 i would think...

[DevilsEve666]

Re: Something interesting about Braves teams in World Series

http://mlb.mlb.com/network/games_airdates/

I was at #16

If both of those '01 Series games are there, both '91 games should be too.

I agree 100%, if you're gonna include 2 of the top 20 with a team basically built for a 1 year run in Arizona, how could you NOT have 2 Braves games from either the '91 or '96 series...i mean the 1996 series is what set the yankees on their run and the Braves were then the defending champions...These two teams defined an entire decade and THEN some in baseball.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Something interesting about Braves teams in World Series

There were 50 games that were voted online by fans to decide the top 20...and the 2005 nlds game was in there, so was game 6 and 7 from '91, and game 4 from '96, also the Sid Bream slide in '92 NLCS (i think if my memory serves me there were 6 Braves games of the 50 that were voted on) and none of them have been shown yet, so there should at least be 2 in the top 8 i would think...

If those were the games involved in voting, then I'd say we'll get the 2005 NLDS, When Sid Slid, and Game 7.

[Watson]

I'm just glad I was really to young to understand anything besides a win/loss

[OSUFan_88]

Re: Something interesting about Braves teams in World Series

Be happy you won 1...

God dang that 95 series.