MIAMI – Even if the Braves are perennial contenders these days, they understand success can be fleeting. They are well aware of the hard work and determination that goes into reaching their goals during a lengthy season.
The Braves are on a special run.
With Tuesday’s 2-1 win over the Marlins at loanDepot Park, the Braves won their fifth consecutive National League East division title. Atlanta has the sport’s longest active streak of division crowns.
But the Braves cherish each new one like the last.
“It’s special,” Kyle Wright, speaking about the consistent winning, said before this series. “You can’t take any of them for granted.”
The Braves’ 22 division titles are the most in Major League Baseball history, leading the 20 won by the Yankees and Dodgers. They are all impressive but, in winning the 2022 NL East crown, the Braves made history.
This season, the Braves overcame their largest deficit to win a division title in franchise history. They trailed the Mets by 10 1/2 games after play on June 1, then went on an incredible run to win the NL East – again. The 1993 Braves were 10 games behind first-place San Francisco before winning the division.
In 2022, the Braves turned around their season in June. They won 14 games in a row that month. They never cooled. They also put together two separate eight-game winning streaks after that.
It culminated in the same way it has since 2018.
The Braves sit atop the NL East once again.
“It’s like I say: You never take it for granted,” manager Brian Snitker said before the series against the Marlins. “You’re never guaranteed this. It’s something that we work toward, something that, when we leave spring training, the main thing is to try and win the division.”
Atlanta’s string of five straight division titles is the longest active streak in the sport. The Braves also won an MLB-record 14 consecutive division titles from 1991-2005. Their current run began when they hired general manager Alex Anthopoulos, who is now their president of baseball operations. Anthopoulos and Snitker have guided the Braves to the sport’s elite tier.
The Braves will celebrate their latest accomplishment, as they should. But know this: Their goal is to bring another World Series trophy to Atlanta.
They believe they have the special group to do it.
“We’re just laid-back guys and we like to have fun,” Michael Harris II said. “When it’s time to handle business, we go out there and handle it. We just move on from the next day. We don’t dwell on the past or the night before, we just move onto our next test.”
