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Atlanta 7, Houston 0
The Atlanta Braves didn’t squander this season’s 3-1 series leads, holding on to win their first World Series since 1995. Max Fried took the mound for the Braves in the deciding game, firing six innings of shutout ball before giving way to Atlanta’s bullpen which preserved the combined shutout.
Braves Win World Series
You just cannot predict baseball. There were so many reasons the Braves were not supposed to win the World Series. Yet, the 88-win club just did exactly that on Tuesday night.
Jorge Soler Crushes Monster Blast, Collects Series MVP
Jorge Soler launched a three-run shot in the third inning to put his Atlanta Braves on top in Game 6. According to Statcast, the ball travelled “only” 446 feet after being launched at 109.6 mph. Sometimes the raw numbers don’t tell the story. This no-doubter cleared the left-field wall, the Crawford Boxes and the train tracks at Minute Maid Park and sailed out of the stadium. The home run secured Soler’s place as the unanimous choice for series MVP, making him the second Cuban to win the award (Livan Hernandez is the other).
Joc Joins Rare Company
When Joc Pederson started celebrating with his Braves teammates on Tuesday night, he joined a select group of players. Pederson is only the ninth player in history to win World Series in back—to-back seasons with different teams.
The 2021-2022 Offseason Begins
Now that the World Series is over, teams can return their attention to the business side of baseball. Here is a tentative schedule for the upcoming offseason, running through Opening Day on 31 March. Of course, these dates all assume that a new CBA is reached in time. That is the elephant in the room.
2021-2022 Free Agents
A few players still need to make decisions about their future, most notably, J.D. Martineez, who has an opt-out that he may choose to exercise this winter. Martinez has one year and $19.375MM left on his deal and is essentially a lock to receive a qualifying offer (set for $18.4MM) should he choose to test the market. Even if he does exercise the option, the chances remain high that Martinez plays the next few seasons in Boston.