Atlanta Braves Trying Not To Choke Away World Series Title

OK, it was Halloween Sunday night in Atlanta. Which made you think of ghosts, wicked witches and curses.

Like the Atlanta Sports Curse.

“Yeah, it’s out there. I’ve heard of it,” Atlanta Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud said before the start of his team’s World Series against the Houston Astros, and he wasn’t the only member of the Braves telling me the same.

So, here we go again. There’s the possibility of another horror story in progress for those who hug Atlanta professional sports teams.

The Braves need one victory. Just one to kick those demons in the teeth. They didn’t get that victory Sunday night during a come-from-ahead loss of 9-5 at Truist Park to the visiting Astros, but the Braves will clinch a world championship in Houston either Tuesday night or Wednesday night.

Well, um.

Maybe not.

Remember 28-3? In February 2017, the Atlanta Falcons held that lead deep into the third quarter of their Super Bowl against the New England Patriots, and the Falcons didn’t win.

That’s for starters.

This time, an Atlanta team only blew a 4-0 lead, and we’re talking about the Braves during Game 5 of the World Series. Not only that, but they were up 3-1 in this best-of-seven affair before the first pitch.

All the Braves needed to do was protect that 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning — while maybe adding a few more runs along the way — for their second world championship since they moved to Atlanta in 1966. None of the other two major professional sports teams in town (the Falcons and the Hawks) has managed one.

There is that Atlanta Sports Curse, you know.

The examples are too numerous for this stretch of cyberspace, but here are the most infamous of the lowlights:

Historians like to mention that 1988 scoring classic in Boston between Hall of Famers Dominique Wilkins of the Atlanta Hawks and Larry Bird of the Celtics during the seventh game of an NBA Eastern Conference playoff series.

The Hawks didn’t win.

Worse, the Hawks should have ended the series in Game 6 at home, but the game-winning shot that was meant for Wilkins ended in the awkward-shooting hands of Cliff Levingston.

The 1996 Braves raced toward snatching their second consecutive World Series after they won the opening two games at Yankee Stadium. Then came somebody named Jim Leyrtiz and his three-run, pinch-hit homer out of nowhere for the New York Yankees, along with pinstriped momentum like crazy, and the Braves were headed for elimination in six games.

Oh, and 28-3.

That’s why this made sense: Despite tens of thousands of Braves fans yelling outside the ballpark Sunday night to join the 43,122 inside doing the same, the Astros scored a couple of runs in the second and third innings for a 4-4 tie.

Freddie Freeman pushed the Braves ahead 5-4 in the bottom of the third with a solo homer, but the inevitable followed: The Astros exploded on offense. They showed why they had one of baseball’s most potent attacks by doing the rest of the game’s scoring with 12 hits and six walks.

This was after the Astros looked clueless most of the series against the Braves’ pitching in general and the Braves’ bullpen in particular. The Houston pitching also turned clutch after Adam Duvall gave Atlanta that 4-0 lead on a grandslam.

If you didn’t know better, you would think the Astros have re-discovered the formula that pushed them this season into their third World Series in five years.

That said, in this battle of medium market Major League Baseball teams, the No. 11 Braves on Forbes’ team value list at $1.875 still have a decent chance to overcome the Astros (No.12, $1.87 billion) and the Atlanta Sports Curse.

Is there an Atlanta Sports Curse?

“Yeah. No, I mean. You catch wind of it,” Braves third baseman Austin Riley told me before the World Series. “My buddy is a huge Braves fan, and he’s actually a huge Atlanta fan of all sports. He’s talked about it a couple of times, but I wouldn’t say it’s in the back of your mind.”

Here’s a thought: After the Braves’ Halloween scare, maybe that Atlanta Sports Curse is in the front of their minds.