Atlanta Braves Blew What Should Have Been a Year to Remember

It has been more than a week since the Atlanta Braves blew their series lead to the Cardinals in Atlanta. It is still hard to think about when you consider just how well this team had played all season long.

The Atlanta Braves gave up a ten-run inning to the Cardinals in Atlanta. That was the ending to their season, a season that looked as if it could get the storybook ending the tortured fans of Atlanta so desperately deserved.

Instead, game five was over before the third out of the first inning and Atlanta was given another miserable playoff record.  It was an embarrassing way to end what was such a special season for an Atlanta team that really captured Braves fan’s attention.

It was a  mix of young energetic talent and productive veterans that got Atlanta to the postseason. With a chance to win their first postseason series in over a decade.

The way it ended is similar to how the Atlanta Falcons Super Bowl hopes ended nearly three years ago.  It was a collapse the Falcons never walked away from, and I am not so sure the Braves will be able to recover either.

They lost to a weaker team while this may seem like a contradiction it is true. The Cardinals are worse in every aspect and that showed when they were swept by the Nationals in the next round.

The Nationals were another team Atlanta had consistently beaten and shown they were the better team. And yet the Nationals are set to play in the World Series while the Braves are sitting at home wondering what could have been.

Atlanta’s window is most certainly still wide open with the young core they have assembled. The question, however, is can they bounce back from a series collapse that never should have happened?

That is a question that will not be answered until the 2020 postseason. When the Braves once again will be trying to end the postseason demons that have seemingly haunted them since their World Series win in 1995.