Atlanta Starts New Era

Cub fans watching the Cubs' futile attempt at a season opener saw something that hasn't been seen for a long time: Atlanta as a baseball city.  Although the Atlanta Braves hat and the city abbreviation 'ATL' have become extremely popular in the rap and hip hop industry, the Braves and their fan base have been not so cool in recent years.  Turner Field can seat 54,357, behind only Yankee Stadium, but their attendance in 2009 was 15th at 29,304 a game.  Attendance has stayed below 34,000 a game every year since 2002.  Why did this happen?  I think it became fairly obvious.  Bobby Cox and the Braves marched to the playoffs 14 times in a row.  14 times!  However, they only got to five World Series, including none the last six years from 2000-2005.  They lost in the LDS the last four years, which grew frustrating for fans realizing their time as a winning team wouldn't last forever.  The last three of those LDS all included losing the win or go home Game 5 at home.

So what does this have to do with Opening Day 2010?  Here's my theory.  The Braves, rocketing into the 2003 playoffs with a 101-61 record and a lineup filled with all stars, met the Cubs in the first round.  The Braves were heavily, heavily favored against a Cubs team which still had issues the whole season and were a team that didn't seem like it was supposed to be there.  However, the Braves were surprised when the Cubs put up a good fight.  The Cubs even took a 2-1 lead in the series and the chance to move on at home, but the pitching of Russ Ortiz and a homer by Andruw Jones in Game 4 at Wrigley sent the series back to Turner Field.  Now, everything was favoring the Braves again to go play the upstart Marlins in the NLCS, but the shocked sellout crowd watched as Kerry Wood and Joe Borowski shut down the hitters to one run and five hits while Aramis Ramirez and Alex Gonzalez hit home runs.  Unbelievably, the Cubs would head back to Wrigley in the NLCS.  The Braves went home.  That, ladies and gentlemen, is the moment Atlanta went into a baseball slumber.  The only cities I know that could go into such a slumber while still fielding playoff teams are Atlanta and New York, specifically the Yankees.  And yet it happened, so even though the Braves would win 96 and then 90 games the next two years, the damage was done.  Any excitement still around was taken when Andruw Jones, Atlanta's baseball son, packed his bags after 2007.

The Braves would go on to lose for most of 2006, 2007, 2008 and some of 2009, but the transformation is happening again.  There were some glimpses last season of the future of Atlanta's baseball.  The new radius of guys revolves around some new stars, like Brian McCann, Derek Lowe, and of course super prospect Jason Heyward.  And as I watched the Braves destroy the Cubs for 16 runs in front of a sellout crowd on Opening Day, I saw the vision of another era of winning baseball.  I don't know if it starts this year or 2011 or ever, but I definitely saw the group of guys capable of the job.  Yunel Escobar, Martin Prado, Jair Jurrjens, Tommy Hanson, and Jason Heyward look like the same style homegrown group that started the last era of Andruw Jones, John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, Chipper Jones, Tom Glavine, and Mike Hampton.  One problem with the Braves right now is that there doesn't appear to be one face of the franchise-yet.  For me, it's only a matter of time before Hanson becomes the staff ace, Heyward picks up where Andruw Jones left off, and Escobar and Prado become a premier double play duo.  What Atlanta does at the end of an era can't be called rebuilding.  I call it retooling, because there is never no talent somewhere in the system.  Even through all of the struggles the last half-decade, Brian McCann was there as the new young talent.  Then came Escobar in 2007, Prado and Jurrjens in 2008 (although not technically homegrown, Jurrjens was traded from Detroit as a young prospect), and Hanson in 2009.  It's fair to say Atlanta has woken up.

This kind of transformation is really great for the game.  It's the way the game should be won.  Not the Cubs have ever played it this way or anything, but I guess anything is possible with the Ricketts now.  The Braves, in Boston, Milwaukee, and now Atlanta, is one of baseball's longest tenured and proudest franchises.  A return to winning form is spectacular for the future of baseball and the city of Atlanta.