I still think their 1992 NLCS win was a fluke. . .but I’m not bitter.
/They had a hell of a postseason pitching staff. Nasty three-man rotation.
It is pre-destined that Cleveland shall not win Championships so maybe ATL getting to the Series was a fluke but beating the Indians is never a fluke.
Statistically, mean peak age for baseball players is 28.5 so as counterintuitive as it may be you can make an argument that 27 is young and 29 is aging.
The Yankees’ win over the Braves in 1996, and the Indians playing the Marlins in 1997 were flukes. The fact that the Braves won only one WS was a fluke.
A fluke they only won one? Mathematically I say no, they would be expected to win just one in the Wild Card era (actually 1.27). You need to win three series, the Division, League and World Series. Given playoff teams are pretty equally matched, each team has a one in 8 chance to win each series. They won 11 East division titles in a row from 1995 to 2005.
They also won the West division three times 1991-93 when you had just two series, the League and World Series. That’s a 25% chance to win it all. They almost did in 1991.
Was seems to be more a fluke to me are the Yankees winning three in a row 1998-2000 in the same conditions. Winning 9 division titles in a row 1998 to 2006 in the same conditions as the Braves. Don’t forget the Dodgers have also won the last 9 NL West division titles and have no championship to show for it. So it seems to me the Braves have won exactly how many they should have, maybe slight bad luck and should have won another World Series, the Dodgers had bad luck and Yankees very good luck.
The Braves also outscored the Blue Jays in the 1992 Series despite losing 4-2. Whaddya gonna do.
This question and the question about why teams don’t always try for dynasties makes me really wonder about the OP. These questions are unthinkable.
Hopefully not too derail-y a nitpick - with Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Winner Fernando Valenzuela going 3-1 in the play-offs, wouldn’t that have somewhat eroded the idea of it being a fluke?
No, because “a guy had a good season” wasn’t one of my criteria. All teams that make the playoffs have a guy having a terrific season. The worst W/L record by a World Series winner was by the 2006 Cardinals and they had Albert Pujols having an Albert Pujols year. But even the Cards wouldn’t be my flukiest champ ever (it was really more of a fluke that they didn’t play better in the regular season.)
If anything, Fernando just adds to the flukiness. He was a great pitcher who had other good years, but a 20-year-old kid having the best season he would ever have is, let’s be honest, really flukey.