Atlanta Braves Finally Master the World Series

The Atlanta Braves completed a mission Saturday night, winning the World Series in six games by defeating the Cleveland Indians, 1-0, before a crowd of 51,875 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

A World Series championship was the only title to have eluded the Braves as baseball’s dominant team of the 1990s.

With a regular-season record of 454-290 over the last five seasons, the Braves had lost to the Minnesota Twins in the 1991 World Series, to the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1992 World Series and to the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series of 1993. The players’ strike of last year interrupted their bid for another berth in the playoffs.

The Braves completed their quest on a brilliant pitching performance by left-hander Tom Glavine, who gave up only one hit, a sixth-inning single by Tony Pena, before Mark Wohlers retired the Indians in order in the ninth.

Glavine, one of nine Braves to have been with the team through all the accomplishments and heartbreaks of the ‘90s, walked three and struck out eight. The Indians, who won 100 games during the strike-abbreviated regular season and led the major leagues in runs and team batting, had been shut out only three times this year. Glavine, the Series’ most valuable player, has more victories than any major league pitcher over the last five years.

The margin of victory was supplied by Atlanta right fielder David Justice when he opened the sixth inning with a home run into the right-field bleachers off Cleveland left-hander Jim Poole.

Complete coverage in Sports