The Braves won the 2021 World Series. They’ve since gotten better. Sometimes it happens, though not often. It has happened twice over the past 20 years. The Phillies won the 2008 World Series; the next year, they improved by one win. The Astros won the 2017 Series; the next year, they improved by two wins.
Should the Braves lose their final 13 games – they won’t but bear with me – they still would show an uptick of five wins (from 88 to 93) over last season. Should they go 7-6, they’d finish with 12 more wins than last season’s champs. This is stunning stuff.
Their 2021 winning percentage was .547; this year’s is .624. Over MLB’s playoff era, which dates to 1969, no reigning titlist has improved by that much. From 2000 to 2001, the Yankees rose from .540 to .594. From 1974 to 1975, the A’s moved from .556 to .605. From 1987 to 1988, the Twins climbed from .525 to .562.
