Is the Braves’ Dynasty Valid?

The '83-'98 49ers consistently got the better of their opposition, winning at least 10 football games an astonishing 16-consecutive seasons -- and we're not counting their '81 Super Bowl title (16-3 aggregate) which began a run of five NFL triumphs in 15 years.

The '91-'04 (and still ongoing) Braves have consistently gotten the better of their opposition, winning 100+ games six times, and have even bettered the 49ers, qualifying for their playoffs in all but the strike-shortened season of 1994 (where they trailed the Montreal Expos in August). Yet, like their San Franciscan brethren, the Braves have met much postseason heartache, failing to win but one world championship (1995) in such an otherwise impressive run.

The 49ers may have won three more championships, but they also failed in the '97, '92, and '90 NFC Championships (older readers will note my comments on the latter game in another space) -- and all of those were set in Candlestick Park. Worse, and a la Atlanta of late, SF flopped in divisional home playoff games to the Minnesota Vikings (1987; the superb performance of Anthony Carter) and the Green Bay Packers (1995).

Fortunately, the high-powered No. 1 seed '84, '89, and '94 clubs romped through the NFL playoffs and made good on their regular-season promise. Throw in a clutch '88 performance at Chicago (where SF whipped the No. 1 seed Bears), and that will appease most fans and followers, despite a 4-5 display in conference championship contests, not to mention those humiliating losses to the New York Giants (49-3, '86 NFC Divisional) and the Dallas Cowboys (38-21, '93 NFC Championship).

The Atlanta Braves, as we well know, have not been as fortuitous in their playoff pursuits. In 1995, assisted by home-field advantage, the Braves stymied a Cleveland Indians team that had produced a 100-54 mark -- better than that of the National League champions. Regrettably for Tomahawk partisans, that has proven to be their high-water mark. The dominators of regular-season NL baseball have had to listen to the pejorative wisecracks of certain pundits, who note their 1-5 record in their last six postseason series, not to mention any names...

The 2004 Braves, a team many scorned in favor of the defending champion Florida Marlins or even the revitalized Philadelphia Phillies, have once more mastered the NL East -- yet they remain a team at the crossroads, trying their collective best not to imitate the '95-'98 San Francisco 49ers, otherwise known as acclaimed respectability before a downturn. With the lack of a true salary cap in major league baseball, ATL should not be in danger of suffering such a stunning reversal as the '99 49ers.

However, the argument is not invalidated: those 49ers made the playoffs (twice winning the division), but failed to win any playoff game against a non-wildcard team, never seriously threatening the Super Bowl (1997 was an illusion) after the departure of Ricky Watters, Deion Sanders, Ray Rhodes, and Mike Shanahan following a 49-26 victory in Super Bowl XXIX.

By contrast, the Atlanta Braves have not qualified for the World Series since 1999 (when they were swept by the New York Yankees), and have failed in the NLDS despite their home-field advantage, including losing a pair of Game 5s at Turner Field in 2002 and 2003. Should an objective observer honestly take them seriously as a real contender given their recent showing? See, it was not always this way. From 1995-1999, Atlanta compiled a 5-0 record in the NLDS and went 3-2 in the NLCS, and lost two World Series to the Yankees.

Things have so degenerated that the Chicago Cubs have won a postseason series (a first since 1908), Barry Bonds has won a playoff round (his first, in 2002), and the Arizona Diamondbacks, a team a mere four seasons old, walloped them in the 2001 NLCS en route to their world championship.

The Atlanta Braves are in danger of concluding such a brilliant stretch (ending in 2005? 2006?) with precious little of the hardware that their counterparts in the NFL amassed.

At least when the Giants' Matt Bahr KO'd those 49ers with a last-second field goal in the NFC Championship (1990), SF had already won three Super Bowls -- and they'd actually win another. However, when the Yankees' Jim Leyritz homered off Atlanta closer Mark Wohlers in the series-turning Game 4 (1996), the Braves had prevailed in just one World Series -- and have not won another.

At least when San Francisco teased their faithful with dazzling 14-2, 14-2, and 13-2 regular seasons that ended in bitter and premature defeat, SF had claimed titles with 15-1, 14-2, and 13-3 records. However, when the Braves won 106, 104, 103 -- okay, in '93 they were forced to start the NLCS in Philadelphia, but still lost two of three at home -- and 101 (three times) games, they participated in just one World Series and failed even to win a game.

At least when SF lost a tough NFC finale to the Washington Redskins (1983) on an "unfortunate" pass interference call in the latter stages of the game, the team returned the next season and obliterated the competition, including the 14-2 Miami Dolphins, to collect their second NFL championship.

However, when a Atlanta lost a grueling seven-game Fall Classic to the Minnesota Twins (1991) due to matters beyond their control (AL's year for home-field) and those not (Lonnie Smith's misread of NL MVP Terry Pendleton's double in the late innings of a tense 0-0 Game 7), the team wasted a brilliant comeback a year later against the Pittsburgh Pirates -- punctuated by a slightly-wayward throw-in by a certain gifted left fielder -- by faltering against the Toronto Blue Jays, turning Ed Sprague and Pat Borders into (albeit brief) household names.

To demonstrate the accomplishment of these Atlanta Braves, one only has to look at the 1949-1964 New York Yankees, a team that for all its dominance, still finished behind the AL champion twice -- Atlanta has yet to be beaten in a NL East race and it is rare campaign that finds the Braves not atop the NL win total list. We will not mention, however, that those Yankees prevailed in eight more World Series than these Atlanta Braves.

The 1991-2004 Atlanta Braves, barring the birth of a new playoff tear, will never be confused with the Casey Stengel, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle-led Yankee teams of yore; to claim as such would be patently ridiculous. However, for this observer, it is imperative that Atlanta win at least three more NL pennants (how about one?) or two more world championships in this magical run. Otherwise, they'll simply be remembered as the 1983-1998 San Francisco 49ers -- but without the trophies.

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