Best 50 — 1995 Atlanta Braves (#38)
Atlanta wins the only World Series involving a pair of Best 50 clubs
Successive editions of this newsletter are counting down the 50 greatest ballclubs of all time — a/k/a the Best 50 — as ranked by my new book, Baseball’s Best (and Worst) Teams. Today’s entry focuses on No. 38, the 1995 Atlanta Braves.
Here’s a quick boilerplate explanation that I’m appending to every story in this series:
I compiled the Best 50 by analyzing 2,544 major-league teams from 1903 to 2024. Those clubs have been ranked by their team scores (TS), which are plotted on a 100-point scale. (A given club’s all-time percentile is the percentage of the other 2,543 teams that it outperformed.)
See my book for an explanation of my TS calculations. The book also offers separate breakdowns of the best and worst clubs for every decade and franchise, comprehensive profiles of the Best 50 (including position-by-position lineups and much more information than you’ll find in this newsletter), and similar summaries of the 10 worst teams of all time.
Now on to today’s profile.
Facts and figures
Team: 1995 Atlanta Braves
Team score: 85.845 points
All-time rank: 38 of 2,544
All-time percentile: 98.55%
Season record: 90-54 (.625)
Season position: First place in National League East
Final status: World champion
Season summary
The Braves endured a protracted drought after relocating from Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966. They made only two postseason appearances — both brief — during their first quarter-century in Georgia.
The climate improved dramatically when former manager Bobby Cox returned to the dugout. The Braves soared from last place in their division in 1990 to a National League pennant in 1991 — Cox’s first full season at the helm — followed by another NL title a year later. Atlanta came up short in both World Series.
The hunt for a championship continued in 1995, propelled by baseball’s preeminent pitching staff. Greg Maddux had won Cy Young Awards the previous three years, and he repeated in ’95 with a sterling 19-2 record. The Braves collectively allowed only 3.75 runs per game; every other big-league club yielded more than 4.20.
Atlanta nonetheless stumbled out of the gate in the NL East, slipping 4.5 games behind Philadelphia by June 25. The Braves roared to a 57-31 record thereafter, winning the divisional crown by 21 games.
Baseball’s Best (and Worst) Teams
Get the complete lowdown on the 50 greatest (and 10 weakest) clubs of all time
Postseason summary
Wild-card teams were added to the postseason pool in 1995, necessitating a third playoff round.
Atlanta blasted Colorado in the initial National League Division Series, then swept Cincinnati in the NL Championship Series. The Braves outscored their two intraleague opponents, 46-24.
The World Series pitted a pair of Best 50 clubs, the only such matchup in history. Oddsmakers favored the Cleveland Indians, yet the Braves took three of the first five games. That set the stage for a tension-packed Game Six, which remained scoreless into the sixth inning.
Starter Tom Glavine exhorted Atlanta’s hitters in the dugout. “Come on, boys,” he said. “All I need is one.” He proved true to his words. Glavine made a David Justice homer stand up for a series-clinching 1-0 victory.
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Lineup summary
The Braves didn’t scare National League pitchers. Their batting average of .250 ranked 13th among the NL’s 14 teams, outstripping only the woeful Cardinals (.247), who finished with a 62-81 record. Atlanta’s run production (4.48 per game) was ninth-best in the league.
Nobody in the batting order produced more than 27 homers or 93 RBIs. Fred McGriff, a 31-year-old first baseman, topped the Braves in both categories. He also provided veteran leadership for a lineup dominated by players in their 20s. “There was nobody I enjoyed hitting in front of more than Fred McGriff,” said third baseman Chipper Jones, a 23-year-old rookie in 1995.
McGriff would eventually make it to the Hall of Fame, as would Jones, who finished second on the club with 86 RBIs. “I played the entire season on adrenaline,” said Jones, who admitted that his first pennant race was nerve-racking.
The key to Atlanta’s success was its dominant starting rotation. It was anchored by Greg Maddux, who wasn’t fast, but was undeniably clever. “The more ways you can put [the ball] in more places at more speeds, the better,” he said. That philosophy brought Maddux every Cy Young Award from 1992 to 1995, capped by a league-leading 1.63 ERA in the latter season.
Tom Glavine’s 16-7 record would have established him as the ace for most clubs, though not the Braves. “I’m not going to say I’m the best pitcher,” Glavine said. “But I’ve always felt I had the ability to be considered one of the better pitchers.” He and Maddux were destined for Cooperstown, as was fellow starter John Smoltz (12-7).