Atlanta Is Peaking at Exactly the Right Time
The New York Times
An 88-win team faced a series of daunting challenges, yet is on the verge of a championship thanks to timely hitting and terrific bullpen work.
ATLANTA — In a sport that revels in the unpredictable, the Atlanta Braves were once a sure thing. With almost ruthless efficiency, they won their division 14 times in a row, a streak that began before Dansby Swanson was born and ended when he was almost a teenager.
By then Swanson had charted his career path. As a boy in Marietta, Ga., he dreamed only of playing baseball — and with luck he might even do it for his favorite team. He got his wish in a surprise deal to Atlanta in 2015, just six months after the Arizona Diamondbacks had drafted him first overall out of Vanderbilt.
“Getting traded here, it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me, to be able to be back home and to be able to play for this city and to just grow this community,” Swanson said late Saturday night, after his homer helped lift Atlanta to the edge of a World Series championship. “That moment, it means a lot. It really does.”
