That 1991 Feeling All Over Again

Story back dated from June 2018.
Last night, a late night, it was the bottom of the 8th inning Cincinnati Reds @ Atlanta Braves at Suntrust Park. Game was tied 4-4 and I had to get up early the next morning. Rolled over and turned the TV off just to wake up in the morning to this which happened in the bottom of the 11th courtesy of Fox Sports. 2B Ozzie Albies looks to Danny Santana and says, “It’s time to go long now.” Well, that’s exactly what he did. Another walk off for the team, his 17th homer of the season, first walk off of his young career.

The Braves (45-32) extend their NL East first place lead over the Philadelphia Phillies (41-35) to 3.5 games and the Washington Nations (41-36) 4 games, who both got pretty beat up last night. There are a lot of fresh faces on this year’s Braves team from 3B Johan Camargo, Albies, and LF Ronald Acuna, Jr, currently on disabled list with a sprained knee dated back to the Boston Red Sox series in Boston. Acuna is making rehab appearances in the minors and is set to join the big club more than likely this week. With all the young power and speed on this team, it still has quality of leadership implied from 1B Freddie Freeman to RF Nick Markakis, who both respectfully lead their positions for the starting line up for the national league all-star classic in Washington DC on July 17.

This year’s Braves team is one year early on their rebuilding phase, according to the Braves front office. The Braves were not suppose to show their fruits from the minor leagues until the 2019 season. But it’s funny how things work out when a team comes together and you have quality leadership both in the coaching staff and front office. Going into the 1991 season I had no thoughts that the team then would turn it around to go to the World Series that season, let alone roll off 14 winning pennants including 1 World Series title in 1995. It’s not even the All-Star break yet and anything can still happen the remainder of the season, but I am having that 1991 feeling all over again where I believe that this team can do it.

Follow me on Twitter @makirkley for up-to-date tweets, and my views on what’s going on in the world of sports.