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1991 atlanta Braves

1991 NLCS: The Braves-Pirates Rivalry Begins

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For two straight years, the Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates battled in the National League Championship Series. Over the 1991-92 stretch, both teams enjoyed the role of favorite and both teams enjoyed homefield advantage under the rotation system that at the time. These playoff battles had two other things in common—both times they went all seven games and both times it was Atlanta pouring champagne at the end.

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Atlanta came into the 1991 NLCS in what most people would consider a “just happy to be here” mode. They had completed a stunning worst-to-first transformation to reach the postseason. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, was the team that had gotten playoff-tested in a 1990 NLCS loss to the Cincinnati Reds. The ‘91 Pirates came into the playoffs as the best team in baseball and nothing less than winning their first World Series since 1979 would suffice.

You can read more about the regular season paths the Braves and Pirates took to win their respective divisions and who their most important contributors were at the links below. These article will focus specifically on the games of the 1991 NLCS.

READ MORE ABOUT THE 1991 ATLANTA BRAVES
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1991 PITTSBURGH PIRATES

The series opened in old Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh with a pitching matchup of the last two Cy Young Award winners. The Pirates’ Doug Drabek had won the award in 1990. Tom Glavine for the Braves won it in 1991 (though this wouldn’t be officially known until November).

Pittsburgh quickly jumped on Glavine. Andy Van Slyke hit a solo home run in the first inning and delivered an RBI double in the third as the Pirates took a 3-0 lead. Drabek contributed to his own cause in the sixth with an RBI double, while also shutting down the Atlanta lineup. The Braves didn’t score until the ninth when a meaningless home run from David Justice helped the avoid a shutout. Pittsburgh took the opener 5-1.

A pair of lefties matched up in Game 2, Steve Avery for Atlanta and Zane Smith for Pittsburgh. The Braves blew a second-inning opportunity when three consecutive singles loaded the bases with none out. Rafael Belliard, batting in the 8-hole grounded into a force-out at home. Avery struck out and Smith escaped the jam. Over the home half of the second and the top of the third, each team had a man get on first and then steal both second and third base—Barry Bonds for the Pirates, Ron Gant for the Braves. Again, no one scored.

It wasn’t until the sixth that Atlanta broke through. Justice led off with a single and then scored ona two-out double from Mark Lemke. Avery kept the 1-0 lead to the bottom of the ninth, when Pittsburgh got a leadoff double from Barry Bonilla. Avery was able to get Bonds and prevent him from advancing the runner. Atlanta manager Bobby Cox summoned Alejandro Pena to get the final two outs. Pena made it interesting by uncorking a wild pitch that put Bonilla on third with one out. But Steve Buechele harmlessly tapped back to Pena for the second out and Curt Wilkerson struck out to end the game.

After a day off to travel south, the series resumed for Game 3 with a late afternoon start on Saturday. Atlanta’s young John Smoltz took the mound against Pittsburgh’s 20-game winner, John Smiley. The Pirates struck with first-inning home run from Orlando Merced. Smiley got the first two batters out in the bottom of the first, but then everything started to go the Braves’ way. Gant, Justice and Brian Hunter hit consecutive doubles, Greg Olson homered and in the blink of an eye it was 4-1. It was 6-1 after three innings, Smoltz worked into the seventh and the final was 10-3.

The Braves now seemed to hold the edge, with a favorable pitching matchup for Sunday night’s Game 4, as they had veteran lefty Charlie Liebrandt set to face the Pirates’ Randy Tomlin. And Atlanta jumped on Tomlin quickly when Lonnie Smith led off the first inning with a double and scored on consecutive productive outs. Three more singles by Justice, Hunter and Olson produced another run and a 2-zip lead.

But just as Smoltz settled in during Game 3, Tomlin got under control in Game 4 and Atlanta would not score—or even seriously threaten to score—again. Pittsburgh chipped away with single runs in the second and fifth innings to tie the game. In the 10th inning, Van Slyke drew a walk to start the inning against reliever Kent Mercker. After a steal of second and a walk, Cox went to the pen for Mark Wohlers. It didn’t work. Mike Lavalliere, a pinch-hitter delivered an RBI single that stood up for a 3-2 win.

The crucial Game 5 went down on late Monday afternoon, with Glavine going for Atlanta, while Pittsburgh used Zane Smith on short rest. Smith again was brilliant. He again got very little run support, but unlike Game 2 against he at least got a little bit. A fifth-inning walk, followed by singles from Don Slaught and Jose Lind gave the Pirates their only run.

In the meantime, Smith worked out of a couple jams early. The Braves loaded the bases with one out in the second, but Smith struck out Belliard and Glavine. In the fourth inning, Bonds threw out Justice at the plate. The 1-0 lead stood to the ninth inning when Atlanta again threatened, this time against reliever Roger Mason. There were runners on first and second with one out. Mason got Lemke to ground out. Hopes for Braves run rose when Jeff Blauser hit a line drive to right field. But it found Bonilla’s glove and this 1-0 game went Pittsburgh’s way.

The Pirates were the favored team to begin with, they had the series lead at 3-2 and they had two home games in their back pocket. They had Drabek and Smiley lined up to pitch .It seemed like a World Series trip was all but a formality. But Atlanta’s young pitching was about to make its strongest statement yet.

Avery faced Drabek in Game 6 and both pitchers were locked in. The Braves threatened in the first when Lonnie Smith reached third with one out, but Drabek got MVP third baseman Terry Pendleton to pop out. The game stayed scoreless to the seventh, with neither team threatening. In the top of the seventh, Gant reached third with one out and tried to score on a ground ball to short. Jay Bell came home with the ball and cut Gant down to keep the scoreless tie intact.

Gant was again in the midst of the action in the ninth, working a one-out walk and stealing second with two outs. Greg Olson doubled and there was finally a run on the board. With a 1-0 lead, Cox curiously opted to pinch-hit for Avery, who had allowed just three singles. Pena came on to close.

The decision might have backfired—pinch-hitter Gary Varsho immediately singled and was bunted to second for Pittsburgh’s first real scoring threat of the night. With two outs, he took third on a wild pitch. But Pena struck out Van Slyke and we were going to a Game 7.

It was Smoltz-Smiley for the decisive game, but this one proved to be somewhat anticlimatic. After so much great pitching on both sides, Smiley just didn’t have it. He allowed a two-run blast to Hunter in the first, was unable to finish the inning and Atlanta had a quick 3-0 lead. It looked like Pittsburgh would respond when their own half of the frame started with consecutive base hits. But Smoltz promptly ripped through Van Slyke, Bonillia and Bonds to kill the threat. Pittsburgh never got close again. Hunter drove in another run in the fifth. Smoltz went the distance with a six-hitter, and when he got Jose Lind to ground out to second to end the game, the party in Atlanta could begin.

In almost any other NLCS, Smoltz’s efforts might have gotten him the series MVP. But there was no denying Avery, who pitched what Pirate manager Jim Leyland called “the two games of his life”, in Games 2 & 6. Avery won 1991 NLCS MVP honors. Drabek and Zane Smith had each pitched extremely well in defeat for Pittsburgh. None of the big-name players on either side hit well, so the failure that stands out the most is the fact that in Smiley’s two starts, he pitched just 2.2 innings and gave up eight runs.

Atlanta went on to play another tense battle in the World Series against the Minnesota Twins, again going seven games. This time they ended up on the wrong end of a 1-0 pitcher’s duel, losing one of the great Game 7s ever played.

READ MORE ABOUT THE 1991 WORLD SERIES

Neither franchise was going anywhere. Both would be back in this same place in 1992.

The Worst-To-First Ride Of The 1991 Atlanta Braves

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The 1991 Atlanta Braves were a franchise in a major funk. They hadn’t been relevant since Joe Torre managed the club in the early 1980s, reaching the NLCS in 1982 and contending to the final weekend of 1983. The latter part of the decade was considerably different. The Braves lost 106 games in 1988 and 97 games each of the ensuing two years. Midway through the 1990 season, Bobby Cox came on as manager.

Cox’s track record of building the Toronto Blue Jays from an expansion franchise into a team that won the AL East in 1985 gave people in Atlanta good reason for hope. No one could guess that the hope would be delivered on in a bigger way than anyone thought possible, or that would happen immediately in 1991.

Atlanta would become renowned for its great starting pitching throughout the 1990s and the early 2000s. It started in ‘91. A 25-year-old lefty named Tom Glavine won 20 games with a 2.55 ERA. He also won the Cy Young Award and jumpstarted a Hall of Fame career.

Another man on his way to Cooperstown was 24-year-old John Smoltz, who made 36 starts, won 14 games and posted a 3.80 ERA. Steve Avery, another young lefty didn’t have a Hall of Fame career, but was as good as anyone in 1991–18 wins and a 3.38 ERA. Veteran Charlie Liebrandt brought some experience to the rotation, winning 15 games with a 3.43 ERA.

The bullpen doesn’t have the same kind of names that jump out at you, but Juan Berenguer, Mike Stanton and Kent Mercker all had sub-3.00 ERAs and Cox knew how to use them effectively. They rounded out a staff that finished third in the National League in ERA.

Offensively, Atlanta was even better, finishing second in the NL in runs scored. Terry Pendleton, a veteran brought over from St. Louis, won the MVP award. His final numbers of .363 OBP/.511 slugging percentage were good, although MVP was probably pushing the envelope a bit. He was given credit for providing leadership to the young players around him.

There were big-time producers in the outfield. Ron Gant hit 32 home runs, drove in 105 runs and scored 101 more. David Justice finished with a stat line of .377 OBP/.503 slugging percentage. Lonnie Smith, a veteran of championship teams in both St. Louis and Kansas City, played left field and sparked the offense with a .377 OBP. Jeff Treadway hit .320 and provided some pop at second base.

Atlanta looked better out of the gate, although nothing suggested a historic season was in the works. They were 20-19 at Memorial Day and only 2 ½ games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the old NL West (the division also was home to the Reds, Giants, Padres & Astros with the winner going directly to the NLCS).

They continued to putter along up the All-Star break. At 39-40, they were hanging around the .500 mark and that would be considered a monumental victory for this club if they could maintain that to the end of the season. Winning the division? Well, the Braves lost five of seven games to the Dodgers just prior to the break. Atlanta was 9 ½ back and in third place, also trailing defending World Series champion Cincinnati.

The worm turned after the break. The Braves won eight of ten in games against the Cubs and Cardinals, while the Dodgers lost nine of eleven on an East Coast trip. In the month of August, Atlanta ripped off a 19-11 record, while Los Angeles stumbled to a 13-16 mark. When Labor Day arrived, the Braves and Dodgers were in a dead heat, with the Reds having fallen by the wayside.

While Los Angeles started to play better in the early part of September, Atlanta kept rolling. On September 13 the two teams began the first of what would be two straight weekend series and the Braves were a half-game up.

Atlanta was at home for the first series and Glavine was on the mound. He pitched well and the game was tied 2-2 in the seventh, but the Braves’ ace buckled and ultimately lost 5-2. Smoltz came out on Saturday and gave up a couple early runs, but he settled in and allowed no more. The game went into extra innings, again tied 2-2. In the eleventh, Pendleton hit a bloop double and scored the winning run on a base hit from Gant.

Avery pitched the Sunday finale against Ramon Martinez (brother of Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro). Braves’ first baseman Sid Bream hit a grand slam in the first inning, Avery went the distance and Atlanta’s lead had nudged out to a game and a half.

Perhaps the young kids celebrated a bit too much, because the four days between the next head-to-head series in Los Angeles didn’t go as well .The Braves split four games with mediocre teams in San Francisco and San Diego. Los Angeles ripped off four wins over Cincinnati and Houston. The Braves were now a half-game back as the weekend at Dodger Stadium began.

Avery took the ball on Friday night and picked up right where he left off—with a complete game, this time a shutout. Gant’s 30th home run of the season provided the margin in a 3-0 win. Leibrandt pitched on Saturday and took a 1-0 lead into the eighth. With control of the race in their grasp, Atlanta stumbled. Pendleton committed an error that led to the tying run in the eighth and Los Angeles won it in the ninth.

A series defined by good pitching continued in that vein in Sunday’s big finale. Glavine again pitched pretty well, but again wasn’t good enough. He gave up two early runs and today the Brave hitters couldn’t hit Ramon Martinez. The 3-0 loss left them 1 ½ games back with two weeks to play.

The two teams basically held serve the following week, but there was an important distinction. Atlanta played one more game than Los Angeles and took advantage to take a half-game off the lead. The Braves were within one game for the last week of the season.

Smoltz opened the closing week with a shutout of Cincinnati, while Orel Hershiser answered for Los Angeles with a win over San Diego. On Tuesday, it was Justice’s turn to be the hero—he hit a two-run shot in the ninth inning off the excellent Reds’ reliever Rob Dibble and delivered a 7-6 win. It set the stage for Wednesday when Glavine would win, while the Dodgers fell apart late in a 9-4 loss. Both teams took Thursday off and prepared for the final weekend, with this race dead even.

Friday night kept momentum going Atlanta’s way. Avery went eight strong innings in a home win over Houston, while Los Angeles lost in San Francisco. Smoltz came out Saturday and pitched a shutout that clinched at least a tie and potential playoff game on Monday. That would prove to be unnecessary—the Dodgers again lost in San Francisco and the improbable worst-to-first ride of the 1991 Atlanta Braves was complete.

Or at least the regular season version was complete. Atlanta went to the NLCS against Pittsburgh as a decided underdog and when they lost three of the first five games, with the final two in Pittsburgh, things didn’t look particularly hopeful. Avery and Smoltz responded with consecutive shutouts of a lineup that included Barry Bonds and the Braves reached the World Series.

READ MORE ABOUT THE 1991 NLCS

The Fall Classic was a celebration of worst-to-first turnarounds, because the AL champion Minnesota Twins had done the same thing. The 1991 World Series is in the discussion for the best ever played and it came down to a Game 7 in the old Metrodome. Smoltz battled the great Twins’ veteran Jack Morris, in a scoreless pitchers’ duel. Atlanta appeared poised to score in the eighth before a critical baserunning mistake by Lonnie Smith cost them the chance. After Smoltz left the game, the Twins finally got the winning run in the 10th.

READ MORE ABOUT THE 1991 WORLD SERIES

Game 7 was a crushing loss to be sure, but there was no denying just how special the 1991 Atlanta Braves season had been. And the young pitching would form the core of one MLB’s great long-running success stories. This was the first of fourteen straight division titles for franchise (with the caveat that the Braves were in second place in 1994 behind the Montreal Expos in the re-aligned NL East when a strike wiped out the season). Atlanta would win four National League pennants and get their long-sought World Series title in 1995.

1991 Sports: NFL Greatness, World Series Drama & Basketball Breakthroughts

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Greatness was the order of the day at the Super Bowl, the World Series and the Final Four in the year that was 1991 sports. In each case, greatness had a little bit of a different spin on it.

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The Washington Redskins went 14-2, and dominated the NFL in such fashion that they have to be considered one of the great teams of all time. The Redskins capped it with a thrashing of the Buffalo Bills in the Super Bowl. Read more about the 1991 Washington Redskins.
The World Series didn’t have an all-time great team, but it had a great story and a great event. The Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins each went worst-to-first and then played a Series in which four games came down to the final at-bat, including a 10-inning affair in Game 7. Read more about the 1991 World Series.
The Final Four was anticipated to have a great champion in UNLV. The Runnin’ Rebels were the defending national champions and aiming to be the first undefeated team since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers.
But Duke had other ideas. In a national semifinal game that ranks with the greatest basketball games ever played, the Blue Devils pulled the upset. They won the national championship with a win over Kansas, which was a story unto themselves—the Jayhawks’ Final Four run was the first time their third-year head coach, Roy Williams, made a big impact on March Madness. It would not be the last, and Williams would produce some greatness of his own in the coming years.
Read more about 1991 Duke basketball
Read more about Roy Williams & 1991 Kansas
Michael Jordan had been chasing an NBA championship since coming into the league in the 1984-85 season. After six years of frustration, MJ’s seventh year was the lucky one. The Bulls reached the Finals, and it would be a hyped matchup with Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers. The matchup didn’t live up to the hype though—Jordan’s time had come and Chicago won the championship in five games.
Another great young player whose time had come was Mario Lemieux. The Pittsburgh Penguins rising star missed a lot of the regular season, but he was back in full force for the playoffs. The Penguins won the Stanley Cup and upended the Minnesota North Stars in the Finals. The North Stars had a magical ride themselves, being just the 15th best team in the league, but turning up the offensive heat in the playoffs.
Read more about the 1991 Chicago Bulls
Read more about the 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins
Read more about the 1991 Minnesota North Stars
It might have been the first championship for Mike Krzyzewski, Michael Jordan and Mario Lemieux, but Bobby Bowden wasn’t so lucky. The Florida State football coach had a great team, but lost a gutwrenching game to Miami that denied him a shot at the national championship. Bowden’s pursuit, and the great moments in the Heisman campaign of Michigan’s Desmond Howard, marked the 1991 college football season.
Read more about the 1991 college football season