Decade of Destiny

Dave Paisley

Pedro Martinez aside, it sure looks like our worst fears about this year's World Series are being realized. Yes, it's all but inevitable that the Yankees and Braves will meet in the final Fall Classic of the years beginning with a "19." (I'm a little reluctant to spark that "when does the new millennium really start" argument.)

If they do end up going head-to-head in the Series this year, there's more at stake than just the 1999 championship. The winner will undoubtedly be crowned as the Team of the Decade.

Yes folks, one of the two most disliked teams outside of their own fan base will get to be the Kings of the '90s. It's painful, but practically destiny, given the events of the last decade. Both teams finished dead last in their leagues at the beginning of the decade, the Yankees going 67-95 and the Braves 65-97 in 1990. It's amazing to realize that they were the worst two teams in baseball that year. Just out of curiosity, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati topped their NL divisions that season, while Oakland and Boston topped the AL.

Of those four, Pittsburgh is now long gone from the ranks of contenders, while Cincinnati spent the '90s wandering in a Marge Schott-induced desert. Is it any coincidence they got a glimpse of the promised land this year now that Marge is gone? Meanwhile, Oakland has been lost for years, but finally clawed their way back to respectability this year. Finally, Boston has been mildly successful all decade, but has usually been overshadowed by even better AL East teams.

But back to our main protagonists. The Braves, after a worst-to-first turnaround in 1991, have made the playoffs every year since then (1994 excepted, when their string would have been broken anyway, but for the strike) but have failed to capitalize fully on their numerous chances. They've appeared in the World Series four times this decade, yet won only once.

Through the decade, the key to their consistent success has been pitching. The offensive stars have come and gone. Remember the heyday of Fred McGriff, Dave Justice, Terry Pendleton and Lonnie Smith in 1991? Well, I barely do. However, the pitching back then featured Smoltz and Glavine, still fixtures to this day.

1991 was a harbinger of things to come, though, as the Braves lost to the upstart Twins in the Series. The following year they lost to the Blue Jays, and in 1993, their first with The Surgeon (Dr. Maddux) on the mound, they lost to the Phillies in the NL Championship, despite beating them in every statistical category except wins (after all, the only one that really counts.)

Their lone Series win came in 1995 (and can we claim even that was tainted because of the strike?), after beating the Indians. Since then they've taken a beating by the Yanks in the Series in 1996, and were bounced out in the NLCS by the one-hit wonder Marlins in 1997 and Padres in 1998. For the Braves, it's been a decade of close, but no cigar. OK, one cigar, but it didn't taste very good.

The Yankees took a lot longer to get going in the decade, winning 71 games in 1991, 72 in 1992 then a respectable 88 in 1993. It wasn't until 1995 that they made the playoffs, as a wild card. They got bounced out quickly, though, losing the Division Series to Seattle in dramatic fashion after taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. After that, they've been a veritable postseason steamroller, hiccuping only in 1997 when the Indians managed to derail them in the Division Series.

And speaking of the Indians, how pathetic is it to fire Mike Hargrove when it's obvious for years that the team has needed better pitching to match up with good teams in the playoffs? To blame Grover when GM John Hart won't pony up for the pitching horses is just ludicrous.

But I digress. The only other serious challenger for team of the decade is Toronto, with their three playoff appearances and two World Series wins in 1992 and 1993. However, their abrupt descent into mediocrity has doomed them to footnote status when we're discussing great teams of the '90s. Besides, they're Canadian, so the New York media forgot about them about two weeks after the 1993 Series.

So I think it's fair to say that, if the Yankees and Braves meet in the World Series, the winner will be the team of the decade. If the Yankees win, they'll have three World Series wins in the decade; all of them acquired in a four-year period. We haven't seen dominance like that since the A's of the early '70s. Or maybe the Yankees of the late '70s, if you want to stretch.

If the Braves win it all this year, they'll be tied with the Yankees and Blue Jays for two Series wins apiece in the '90s, and their stellar playoff record in the remainder of the decade will get them the nod.

Now, if all this seems to be a bit presumptuous, remember two things. First, counting chickens before they're hatched is a long-standing baseball tradition (Subway Series, anyone?) The other reason is that if we start talking about it enough, it'll jinx the whole thing anyway. Then we'll get to see a World Series where we can root for a team we like.

about the author

Dave Paisley is still hoping for a recount in the Astros-Braves Division Series. Let him know there were no absentee runs scored by Moises Alou at drdjp@strikethree.com.