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THE ATLANTA BRAVES ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1999

"Smooth" by Santana. Fight Club. One dollar and 24 cents.

Those were the No. 1 song, movie and price of gas on October 27, 1999 — the last time the Atlanta Braves played a World Series game. Now, 22 years later, the Braves will take on the Houston Astros in the Fall Classic.

Atlanta made 12 trips to the Postseason between '99 and 2021 with just two NLCS appearances to show for it, but now the Braves are back where fans of a certain age expect them to be. Given that I was 2 years old in 1999 and not around for the other four '90s World Series appearances, the Braves competing for a championship is not something I've ever seen before. Many Braves fans remember when a World Series berth felt like a birthright, while plenty of others have known nothing but pain and suffering for two decades.

But now they're back.

Without Ronald Acuña Jr. Without Mike Soroka. Without Marcell Ozuna. A team which didn't get over .500 until August 6. All the Braves did was completely rebuild their outfield on the fly and ride the likes of Eddie Rosario, Jorge Soler, Adam Duvall and Joc Pederson to the World Series.

Rosario put on a performance in this NLCS that was a perfect microcosm of what the Braves were able to do in the second half of the season, tallying 14 hits in six games this series. None was bigger, however, than his three-run homer in Game 6 to send Atlanta to the World Series.

And for as good as Rosario was with the bat, the Braves don't win Game 6 or this series without the unbelievable work from Tyler Matzek out of the bullpen. He was absolutely phenomenal and got six critical outs tonight on just 17 pitches.

Make no mistake: the job is not finished. This team is four wins away from just its second title since it moved to Atlanta in 1966. But what the Braves have been able to do throughout the last two months of the regular season and through the Postseason is nothing short of remarkable. This is a special group.

I can't even envision what a World Series game at Truist Park is going to look like. The paint was shaking off the building tonight, so that first World Series game in Atlanta this century is sure to be something otherworldly.

I'm just so happy. We exorcised the Dodgers demon. We're playing for a world championship. And it's all happening in the unlikeliest season one could have conjured up.

But there's one more prize out there left to get and it's the big one. It all starts Tuesday night in Houston.