With 30 teams across 18 states in a sport whose history stretches back for well more than a century, and with so many fierce rivalries and longstanding disputes over everything from pine tar to blown calls and forced relocations, when it comes to professional baseball in the United States, it is hard to get fans to agree on anything. Yet as the World Series commenced at the end of the 2021 Major League Baseball season, fans spoke with a near unanimous voice, because almost everybody outside of Houston hates the Astros.
After switching from the National League to the American League in 2013, the Houston Astros began to build one of the most successful teams in contemporary baseball. They defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in the deciding seventh game of the World Series in 2017, powered by the heavy hitting of José Altuve, and in 2019 found themselves back in the Fall Classic after winning another American League Pennant. But the gloss was soon stripped from all of this success, as a sign stealing scandal led to hefty fines, the loss of draft picks, and firings at the end of lengthy suspensions.
The return of the Astros to the World Series a year and a half after the fallout might have looked like a redemption arc to followers in Houston. To the rest of the country however, it was like rubbing salt into still raw wounds. Neutrals and traditional rivals alike then rounded in support of the Atlanta Braves, even as the team faced its own controversy over its association with the tomahawk chop, a gesture which has led to repeated accusations of insensitivity bordering on racism.
The tomahawk chop, a crosswise chopping motion accompanied by a distinctive holler, remains commonly used by fans of the Atlanta Braves, the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League, and the athletics departments of the Florida State Seminoles. Defending the use of the chop as the World Series got underway, the much derided Commissioner of Major League Baseball Rob Manfred suggested that the Atlanta Braves had consulted with local Cherokee leaders, who viewed the chop as a source of pride. Other indigenous leaders begged to differ.
Manfred also said ‘We don’t market ourselves on a nationwide basis’, a curious claim for a sport commonly known as the national pastime. Fans then were settling in for a small regional affair as the 117th edition of the World Series struck off one week ago at Minute Maid Park in Houston.
The Houston Astros had home-field advantage for the best-of-seven series owing to their superior record in the regular season. In fact by the midway point of the season, the Atlanta Braves were still languishing below .500 in the National League East, and were forced to rebuild their outfield following a season-ending injury to their star slugger and Most Valuable Player candidate Ronald Acuña Jr.
Leading the major leagues with 72 runs scored at the time of his injury, Acuña joined Marcell Ozuna and the starting pitcher Mike Soroka on the long-term absentee list for the Braves, who responded by adding the power hitter Joc Pederson followed by the trio of Jorge Soler, Adam Duvall, and Eddie Rosario as the trade window drew to a close. The revamped roster hit more home runs and shored up the outfield to win 12 of their last 14 games and enter the postseason on a high, where they dispatched the Milwaukee Brewers and preseason favorites the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Astros meanwhile rebounded after a mixed showing in 2020 to clinch the American League West for the fourth time in five seasons, making only minor adjustments to their bullpen during the course of the campaign, still led by Altuve, the shortstop Carlos Correa, and third baseman Alex Bregman. After ousting the Chicago White Sox in the divisional series, they turned the tables on the Boston Red Sox in the League Championship Series as Yordan Álvarez managed to outbat the entire Red Sox lineup with seven hits over the last two games.
It was the Atlanta Braves who carried their momentum through to the opening game of the World Series, as Jorge Soler became the first player in history to lead off the Fall Classic with a home run. A two-run homer from Adam Duvall in the third inning consolidated their grip on the opener in Houston, before four runs on five singles in the second inning of Game 2 helped the Astros to level things up as the teams headed east to Truist Park.
Two tight ballgames gave the Braves a bit of breathing space in the series, as back-to-back solo home runs from Dansby Swanson and Jorge Soler in the seventh inning of Game 4 handed the Atlanta team a 3-1 advantage, putting them one game away from their first title since 1995. The Braves then got off to the best possible start in Game 5 as Duvall hit a grand slam with two outs at the bottom of the first inning, only for the Astros to go ham with the bat and seize the game by a score of 9-5.
The World Series therefore headed back to Houston for Game 6, where the Braves bullpen upset the home crowd by managing to conjure another shutout. The pitching prowess of the Braves was all the more remarkable since their starter Charlie Morton had suffered a right fibula fracture in the opening game of the series, somewhere in the midst of three successful strikeouts. With the hitting power of the Houston Astros quashed, a two-out home run from Soler, a two-run homer from Swanson, and a final home run from the Braves talisman Freddie Freeman saw Atlanta sweep the game 6-0.
Champions of Major League Baseball for 2021, the Atlanta Braves hoisted the Commissioner’s Trophy after winning 23 of their final 30 games over the course of the season. For batting .300 with home runs in three of the four Braves victories, Jorge Soler received the World Series Most Valuable Player Award. Freddie Freeman had already laid claim to his own memento from the series, swiftly pocketing the ball on first base at the bottom of the ninth inning as he and the rest of the Braves celebrated the final Astros out.
