Your Favorite Braves' Teams

[MadduxFanII]

Since we're the in the middle of a re-building season that has officially entered the stage where winning is counter-productive, it seems like a reasonable enough point to do some retrospectin' and look back at happier times. And since we've had plenty of happy times over the last couple decades, I figured we could all talk about our favorite Braves' teams. Mine are going to be quite recent, but obviously the old-timers can talk about the 80's or the 60's or the 10's (hi 50PoundHead!).

MadduxFanII's indisputable ranking of his favorite Braves' teams:

1. 1999: I was a fan since 1991 (total seven-year-old bandwagoner), but this is the first team I remember following day-in and day-out, and it was really a damn delight. Experienced a ton of adversity before and during the season- Ligtenberg and Galaragga went down before the season, while Javy Lopez tore his ACL during the season, O'dalis Perez experienced arm trouble and Rudy Seanez went down in August. Still won 103 games and bested a much fawned-over Mets' team with one of the greatest infields in baseball history. That we got swept in the World Series was a tragedy, since it meant no one really respected how impressive a season we really had.

Season highlight: Chipper destroying the Mets in September, NLCS victory over the Mets.

2. 2002: No offense at all, an all-Franco platoon at first base (with a 43-year-old getting the most ABs), Vinny Castilla posting an OPS+ of 60 in 578 ABs...and we won 101 games behind the best pitching staff in the league and a dominant bullpen staffed with guys like Mike Remlinger, Darren Holmes and Chris Hammond. One of those "just knows how to win" teams that always seemed to find a way to score just enough runs in a given game. The '02 LDS was when I realized once and for all that the "team of destiny" nonsense was just that- I knew, just KNEW, that this team was going to do great things in the postseason.

Season highlight: Three-game sweep at Boston which left Red Sox beat writers in awe of the Braves, multi-month streak in the middle of the season of not losing a series

3. 2013: The culmination of the franchise's resurgence after the debacle in 2008. We were a good team from 2009-2012, but it was deeply satisfying to win the division for the first time since 2005. And straight bitch-slapping a Nationals' team that had been anointed in the pre-season as one of the best in recent memory was so incredibly sweet. Exciting if occasionally frustrating offense, Justin Upton's hot streaks, Heyward's all-around brilliance, a well-rounded pitching staff capped by Kimbrel's brilliance and some nifty in-season front office maneuvering to patch up bullpen holes caused by injuries.

Season highlight: Clinching the division in Chicago, a 5-2 victory over the Nationals on September 18, with Upton providing the winning home run on one of his patented laser beams.

4. 2003: Returned pretty much the exact same lineup from the previous year that proved to be one of the worst offenses in the league, plus Robert Fick, and scored 907 runs, best in the league. Thunder up and down the lineup, with Javy posting one of the greatest offensive seasons from a catcher in big league history- .328/.378/.687, with 43 homers. Watching Marcus Giles break out to the tune of .316/.390/.526 and 7.8 WAR was one of the most enjoyable experienced of my baseball fandom, and the Jones-Jones-Sheffield outfield clobbered the ball all season.

Season highlight: Giles gets standing ovation in first at-bat against the Astros on July 30 after coming in with hits in nine straight at-bats.

5. 2004: The first time in nine seasons that Chipper cracked a little bit, hitting just .248 in his first injury-plagued season. A well-rounded offense made up for it- Furcal was the worst hitter in the regular lineup, and he hit .279/.344/.414 with 29 stolen bases. Julio Franco hit .309 as a 45-year-old. Johnny Estrada made the Millwood trade look much, much better than we had any right to expect. Jaret Wright was arguably Mazzone's finest reclamation project, throwing 186 innings at a 130 ERA+ after looking for all the world like a man on the verge of washing out of baseball. But the revelation here was a healthy JD Drew, who hit .305/.406/.569 and posted 8.3 WAR in what was one of the best, most well-rounded and aesthetically pleasing performances in recent franchise history.

Season highlight: June 27 at Baltimore- sitting at 35-39 and 4.5 games back in the division, the Braves come back from 7-0 in the 7th inning against the Orioles to win 8-7, keyed in large part by a Drew homer, producing this awesome win probability chart.

[nsacpi]

This year's team just has a way of playing the game right that has made it my all-time favorite. If not for some bad luck, it would be right there in the pennant race.

[Pugfan]

1991 by far. I was a fan since 1985 and they were pathetic the first 6 years I followed them. In 1990 they won 65 games and didn't sign any big name free agents so of course I thought the 1991 team would win 70 maybe 75 games if they were lucky. If you told me before the season started they would make it to the world series I would of thought you were on drugs.

[Chico]

1991 by far. I was a fan since 1985 and they were pathetic the first 6 years I followed them. In 1990 they won 65 games and didn't sign any big name free agents so of course I thought the 1991 team would win 70 maybe 75 games if they were lucky. If you told me before the season started they would make it to the world series I would of thought you were on drugs.

Yeah, I remember Skip kept saying "Fans something special is happening here" pretty early trying to get fans to follow the team after some bad years. That was an improbable year

[Millwood1Hitter]

I loved that 1999 team (except for Bret Boone). Had to fight through so many injuries and still was one of better teams of all time, hard to believe how good we could have been with a healthy Big Cat, Ligtenberg, Seanez, Lopez, and even Smoltz for an entire year. Maddux and Glavine had down years for their standards, and my boy Milly stepped up big time and was one of the better pitchers in the league.

And I didn't hate Boone for who he was, I hated it because he wasn't the type of hitter we needed at second base. We needed a Vina or Alomar or someone like that to be a leadoff hitter. Too bad Furcal didn't arrive, one year earlier, LOL. That would have been dynamic.

For me they rate as follows:

1995: World Champs Baby, Finally at Last!
1991: Worst to First
1999: Chipper destroying the Mets
1996: Smoltz year for the ages
2002: Finally a closer and bullpen I can trust
2010: Fun and exciting up and coming team with depth, decimated with injuries
1992: Sid!
1998: Big Cat, Javy, and the big 5
1993: Maddux has arrived
2012: Chipper and Meds

[Prikichi]

2004. I don't know what exactly but something about that team made really believe they were gonna win it all that year. It was just a fun all around season highlighted by a bunch of late comebacks. I remember Nick Greene and JD going back to back to win it in the ninth; I was jumping around like crazy.

If it weren't for Beltran having an historic postseason against us and Reitsma completely losing it in game 5, I'm confident we would've reached the World Series. ugh!

[Dalyn]

2010 is my recent favorite. What a fun team.

[gcbraves]

1974-The first winning season after I began following the Braves. Hank sets the record, Buzz Capra, Phil Niekro finish 1st and 2nd in ERA. Garr leads the league in hitting. We win 88 games, still finish 20 games behind the Dodgers and 10 behind the Reds...(they won 98 and sat at home for the postseason)...we did not have a winning season again until 1980. Still, it was fun listening to Ernie and Milo every night that summer.

[WaitingFor2017]

2010. Man was Brooks Conrad clutch in the regular season only to need a psychologist in the postseason.

[Diesel]

'82 Great season to be a 10 yr old Braves' fan
'91 What a thrill
'93 Maddux, then McGriff. And what a run we had the 2nd half and battle with SF. 104 wins beat their 103!
'97 Juggernaut of a team, we just couldn't beat the Marlins with Kevin Brown, Gary Sheffield, Livan Hernandez, and Eric Gregg!!!
'05 Baby Braves!!!

[bravesnumberone]

I was only 2 in 1991, but watching highlights of that year and old games is amazing, and that probably would have been my favorite team.

1995-96 - '95 was my first year watching a lot of games that I can remember somewhat, but don't remember much beyond us winning and my dad going crazy in the living room. I was there in '96 for the Leyritz home run and am convinced that altered our postseason success forever. I think we would have at least 2-3 more titles.
1999 - What a great year, and Chipper was a one-man wrecking crew against the Mets. We pissed two games in the WS away, and I have no doubt we would have won it all had we been healthy.
2002-2003: Smoltz dominating as a closer and our 2003 offense stand out. Those were two years where I felt like we were gonna win every night. And then we choked in the playoffs.
2005: The baby Braves, and I was incredibly pumped when we got Hudson.
2010: Another really fun year that ended in disappointment. Had we been healthy, I think we could have won it all. By the end, we were without Chipper, Prado, JJ, Wagner.
2012: IMO, the most complete team we've had under Fredi. Loved watching Medlen pitch. Just played awful in the WC game. Baserunning blunders, errors and freaking Holbrook. And the freaking damn Cardinals.

[Chico]

'82 Great season to be a 10 yr old Braves' fan
'91 What a thrill
'93 Maddux, then McGriff. And what a run we had the 2nd half and battle with SF. 104 wins beat their 103!
'97 Juggernaut of a team, we just couldn't beat the Marlins with Kevin Brown, Gary Sheffield, Livan Hernandez, and Eric Gregg!!!
'05 Baby Braves!!!

93 would be my 2nd. It seemed like we led off Baseball Tonight every night with the pennant chase between us and San Fran.

[Millwood1Hitter]

I wanna get back to these days. Dominant pitching, good defense and fundamentals, and timely hitting. Please oh please recreate those days of old from the early 90's.

[Braves1976]

1991 - worst to first! It was also the most heartbreaking World Series loss for me given how it went down. However, the WS loss to the Yankees years later is a close second as far as losing one where we were the better team.

[Knucksie]

1991 by far. I was a fan since 1985 and they were pathetic the first 6 years I followed them. In 1990 they won 65 games and didn't sign any big name free agents so of course I thought the 1991 team would win 70 maybe 75 games if they were lucky. If you told me before the season started they would make it to the world series I would of thought you were on drugs.

Good post, except they signed Nick Esasky in 1990 and Charlie Liebrandt.

[smootness]

My favorite Braves teams will always be the 92-96 teams. I didn't quite understand exactly what was going on in 1991, but I was fully invested by the next year. And I was just beginning to pay attention to sports, baseball, and the Braves, so I loved those teams.

Once we got Maddux, it was ridiculously fun. I still remember checking the paper the day after his starts and was always worried that something might be wrong if he gave up 3 runs.

But Justice was my favorite player ever, so it wasn't quite as fun once we traded him.

[clvclv]

This one is one of them. Teams that win when they're not supposed to are ALWAYS fun to watch.

Seriously.

I know lots of people will disagree, but I don't care. I grew up during the dark days of the organization, and still remember how stoked I was when TBS started carrying all the games. Just getting to see the Braves play without going to Fulton County Stadium - good team or bad - was so awesome many of you will never understand.

Pretty funny story - a buddy of mine stopped by a while ago after I'd lost interest in tonight's game (we were down 6-0 after all). I still had the game on, but had stopped paying close attention. Peterson hit his blast, and I said "OK, let's have a couple beers and watch since I can't remember the last time I gave up on a game". It was 6-5 at that point. Then the 9th happened, and I mentioned that I remember feeling the same way on an October night 24 years ago - we were down 6-0 to the Reds (in the 1st, no less) and won the game when Justice hit a 2-run bomb off Dibble at Riverfront.

As soon as Garcia made contact, I shivered.

[BornaBrave]

As a kid, when I was supposed to be in bed, I was listening to Ernie and Milo, holding a yardstick as a bat and timing my swing with Ernie's "Here's the windup, and the pitch!" Most of those years I kept my own stats based on the boxscores in the newspaper. To the last day of the season, I would hope for a win to move us from 5th to 4th in the division, or to keep us from having the worst record in all of baseball!

In 1991, newly married, it was alot of fun watching the first half of the season on TBS as we had a winning record! Reality started happening as we slipped to 9 1/2 games behind the hated Dodgers at the All Star break. I moved to Asheville, NC into the woods and out of reach of cable, so I was back to the radio every night. There was no local station carrying the Braves, so I depended on good weather to pick up Atlanta's 750 AM station, fading in and out - having to move from the front porch to the back porch to the car, fine-tuning constantly - often not sure if I was hearing the crowd roaring or just static. (It took me 10 frustrating minutes to finally figure out that David Justice had actually hit a home run against the Reds!)

That was the most fun I have ever had in my career as a Braves fan! So I usually went to Atlanta for one series every year, and this year I went out on a limb and decided to buy tickets for the last series of the year against the lowly Houston Astros. I wanted so bad for that series to actually mean something, but I was afraid that I would jinx the Braves by even thinking that. Oh my gosh, it went perfectly as the series neared, we were on a tear and on my way to Atlanta, my hopes were at an all time high as we were in a dead tie for first with the Dodgers after winning six in a row. It was absolutely magical! Friday night and Saturday night as we were winning, I was listening to the radio and getting updates on the Dodgers/Giants games - I would announce it to the folks in my section and we would all cheer together. I will never forget after winning the Saturday night game, all the Braves players gathered at the pitcher's mound to watch the end of the Dodgers game on the big screen with the rest of us. If I remember correctly, Will Clark had the big hit for the Giants to seal the game and I was jumping up and down, hugging strangers all around me, with tears rolling down my face! What a celebration as the Braves players circled the entire field thanking us fans for being a part of it all!

The postseason was magical (getting to see the Braves on NETWORK TV for the first time!) beating the Pirates in seven (Smoltzie!). To top off the year, after being down 0-2 in the World Series, my uncle calls me up and says that his buddy has a personal issue and therefore he has an extra ticket to the first World Series game ever in Atlanta! I dropped everything and took off to Atlanta to see an unbelievable 12 inning masterpiece of a game, ending with Lemke's RBI single barely getting Justice across the plate.

Even though that historic series ended with some serious heartbreak, nothing will ever top that year and that team will always be my very favorite!

[nsacpi]

This one is one of them. Teams that win when they're not supposed to are ALWAYS fun to watch.

Seriously.

I know lots of people will disagree, but I don't care. I grew up during the dark days of the organization, and still remember how stoked I was when TBS started carrying all the games. Just getting to see the Braves play without going to Fulton County Stadium - good team or bad - was so awesome many of you will never understand.

Pretty funny story - a buddy of mine stopped by a while ago after I'd lost interest in tonight's game (we were down 6-0 after all). I still had the game on, but had stopped paying close attention. Peterson hit his blast, and I said "OK, let's have a couple beers and watch since I can't remember the last time I gave up on a game". It was 6-5 at that point. Then the 9th happened, and I mentioned that I remember feeling the same way on an October night 24 years ago - we were down 6-0 to the Reds (in the 1st, no less) and won the game when Justice hit a 2-run bomb off Dibble at Riverfront.

As soon as Garcia made contact, I shivered.

Yeah. I expect a few more votes for this year's team after last night's game.

My other favorite Braves team is the 1974. Of course, that was the year Hank broke the record. But Buzz Capra, who is my all-time favorite Brave (along with Buddy Hernandez who never pitched in majors), had a phenomenal season in 1974. That team won 88 games, which was quite good considering what came before and after. Even with the good team and Hank breaking the record, attendance was under a million.

[clvclv]

As a kid, when I was supposed to be in bed, I was listening to Ernie and Milo, holding a yardstick as a bat and timing my swing with Ernie's "Here's the windup, and the pitch!" Most of those years I kept my own stats based on the boxscores in the newspaper. To the last day of the season, I would hope for a win to move us from 5th to 4th in the division, or to keep us from having the worst record in all of baseball!

In 1991, newly married, it was alot of fun watching the first half of the season on TBS as we had a winning record! Reality started happening as we slipped to 9 1/2 games behind the hated Dodgers at the All Star break. I moved to Asheville, NC into the woods and out of reach of cable, so I was back to the radio every night. There was no local station carrying the Braves, so I depended on good weather to pick up Atlanta's 750 AM station, fading in and out - having to move from the front porch to the back porch to the car, fine-tuning constantly - often not sure if I was hearing the crowd roaring or just static. (It took me 10 frustrating minutes to finally figure out that David Justice had actually hit a home run against the Reds!)

That was the most fun I have ever had in my career as a Braves fan! So I usually went to Atlanta for one series every year, and this year I went out on a limb and decided to buy tickets for the last series of the year against the lowly Houston Astros. I wanted so bad for that series to actually mean something, but I was afraid that I would jinx the Braves by even thinking that. Oh my gosh, it went perfectly as the series neared, we were on a tear and on my way to Atlanta, my hopes were at an all time high as we were in a dead tie for first with the Dodgers after winning six in a row. It was absolutely magical! Friday night and Saturday night as we were winning, I was listening to the radio and getting updates on the Dodgers/Giants games - I would announce it to the folks in my section and we would all cheer together. I will never forget after winning the Saturday night game, all the Braves players gathered at the pitcher's mound to watch the end of the Dodgers game on the big screen with the rest of us. If I remember correctly, Will Clark had the big hit for the Giants to seal the game and I was jumping up and down, hugging strangers all around me, with tears rolling down my face! What a celebration as the Braves players circled the entire field thanking us fans for being a part of it all!

The postseason was magical (getting to see the Braves on NETWORK TV for the first time!) beating the Pirates in seven (Smoltzie!). To top off the year, after being down 0-2 in the World Series, my uncle calls me up and says that his buddy has a personal issue and therefore he has an extra ticket to the first World Series game ever in Atlanta! I dropped everything and took off to Atlanta to see an unbelievable 12 inning masterpiece of a game, ending with Lemke's RBI single barely getting Justice across the plate.

Even though that historic series ended with some serious heartbreak, nothing will ever top that year and that team will always be my very favorite!

About 30 miles from me - I grew up in Marion. Never could get the Atlanta station, so I always tried to listen on WCAB in Forest City.