Blog Entry #3

Houston Astros vs Atlanta Braves can be equated to cheaters vs boring flukes. The two fan bases can be equated to delusional morons vs racists, and the racists get to celebrate an undeserved championship.

The main storyline with the World Series-winning Braves is that they were a mediocre team with mediocre players who all got hot at the same time in October to bring home a championship. But who would rather watch a bunch of players we won’t remember in 10 years—Eddie Rosario, Jorge Soler, Charlie Morton—carry their team to a fluke championship, rather than future hall of Famers solidifying their legacy. Who would rather watch a fluke championship than watch a team start or continue the process of building a dynasty, something that the Braves will not be.

The Braves superstar outfielder, Ronald Acuña Jr, got injured in July and didn’t play another game in 2021. He gets a ring, but it doesn’t count the same because he wasn’t involved in any of their winning. Freddy Freeman gets his first ring, but he isn’t one of those Kershaw/Scherzer/Betts players that finally breaks through and becomes a champion. Freeman isn’t treated in that class, he’s a player that is good but people forget exist when talking about the best in the league. There is no legacy defining moment or legendary player from this Braves team.

There was no winning from a neutral fan perspective however. The Braves winning was likely a better outcome than a bunch of cheaters getting their second ring, this one being a legitimate one. Their fanbase doesn’t deserve a real championship at all.

If you’ve been on baseball twitter at any point since late 2019, you’ve likely seen a nonsensical take from somebody with their bio location as Houston, Texas say that the Astros cheating in 2017 was acceptable and justified.

However, both 2021 world series fanbases are filled with awful people. You’ve likely recently seen somebody with their location as somewhere in the state of Georgia with an american flag as their profile picture saying something along the lines of: everyone is a snowflake and there is nothing wrong with “the chop” because I say so.

Picking one side to root for as a fan of neither team is similar to being in the middle of the political spectrum and picking between Trump or Hillary/Biden, or being a Democrat and picking between Trump and Pence.

The Astros having lost still don’t have a world series title since being busted for cheating in 2017. Their fanbase thankfully doesn’t get to celebrate and has to still cling on to their asterisk-ridden 2017 title.

It’s true that not all Braves fans engage in the chop or are racist. There are bad apples in every fanbase. However, the city that had to be stripped of hosting the All-Star Game for political reasons and refuses to stop the chop now gets to celebrate and rub it in everyone’s faces that their boring team won. It’s not fair as a baseball fan.