It is really hard to be better than a World Series Champion team, but that just might be the case for the 2022 Atlanta Braves. Obviously you know the story about the 2021 Atlanta Braves now, didn’t get over .500 until August 8th, Alex Anthopoulos made the perfect trade deadline moves, and it all ended in the Atlanta Braves winning their first World Series title since 1995.
However, even though that team caught lightning in a bottle, and got hot and healthy at the perfect time, the 2022 Atlanta Braves have started playing their best baseball in the last few months, and will soon be getting back some key pieces to their lineup and pitching rotation. In June the Braves went on a fourteen game winning streak to gain major ground in the NL East race, another eight game winning streak in August, and soon the Braves should be getting back All-Star second baseman Ozzie Albies and All-Star pitcher Mike Soroka, and those will be two nice shots in the arm to a team that is already playing very well.
Also, the 2021 Atlanta Braves didn’t have Ronald Acuña Jr., who was recovering from a torn ACL that he suffered earlier that season, and that Braves team also didn’t have rookie phenoms Michael Harris II, Spencer Strider, and Vaughn Grissom, so is it fair to say the 2022 Atlanta Braves are better than the 2021 World Series Champion Atlanta Braves? Former Braves Andruw Jones, Marquis Grissom, Greg McMichael and Brad Clontz all give their take on which Braves club is better live on The Jon Chuckery Show Thursday night.
Gold Glover Andruw Jones was a little skeptical to say the 2022 squad is better saying “It’s hard to say anything, I can tell you after the World Series.” However, Marquis Grissom and Greg McMichael both believe the 2022 club is better. Grissom said “I would say yes because of the pieces, and Kyle Wright and what he’s doing and that pitching staff that we got.” McMichael added on saying “and Soroka is a number two getting ready to come in that fifth spot and he’s a Cy Young candidate.”
Former Braves closer Brad Clontz was kind of in the middle with his opinion, maybe a little more on the side of Andruw Jones saying “I think they have the potential to be better, but what they were on last year was special. That belief that they made the right moves with these guys they brought in at the trade deadline, and it just worked out, so they were hot at the right moment, and they believed in themselves, and they carried it on.”
Brad also said “I feel like they’re better all around this year, but you know everybody is a lot better too, but you know what they’ve got the experience now, the toughest thing for me is repeating, we tried to repeat in 96, and you know that didn’t turn out well for us, so it’s something about that, and repeating is very tough in every sport.”
Time will tell if this Braves team does end up being better than the World Series Champion team in 2021. I think everybody agrees that this Atlanta Braves team in 2022 is better on paper than the 2021 team now, but the only way the 2022 Atlanta Braves can truly be better than the 2021 Atlanta Braves is to do what the 1996 Atlanta Braves could not do and repeat as World Series Champions.