The 1998 Atlanta Braves recently returned to pop culture, thanks to 'One Thing at Time', Morgan Wallen's new 36-song album. Wallen set a new single-day streaming record for an album, when his new record received 52.29 streams last Friday.
The album's seventh track, titled '98 Braves', is a nostalgic tribute to Atlanta's 106-win team that ultimately came up short in the postseason, falling to the San Diego Padres in six games in the National League Championship Series.
The song compares a past relationship of Wallen's to that of the 1998 Braves. Verse one reads:
"I remember sittin' at that house, livin' room couch
Thinkin' no way them boys wouldn't win
Between them big three pitchers, Andruw and Chipper
It was gonna be hard to keep up with the Jones's
But as fate would have it, that Atlanta magic
Got put out by them damn Padres
I guess destiny ain't always meant to be
Kinda like you and me that day"
The three pitchers Wallen mentions are Greg Maddux, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine, all three of whom have been enshrined into the Hall of Fame. Smoltz, Maddux and Glavine have a combined seven National League Cy Young Awards and 26 All-Star appearances between the three of them. The trio may be the best 1-2-3 at the top of a pitching rotation in baseball history.
Wallen also gives a nod to Braves stars Andruw Jones and Chipper Jones. Chipper played third base was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018. Andruw played center field and was a five-time All-Star and ten-time Gold Glove Award winner, that received 58.1% of the vote for entry into the Hall of Fame this past January, in his sixth year of candidacy. He appears to be on-pace to receive induction before his eligibility expires. He has four more years left on the ballot.
In addition to both Chipper and Andruw Jones and Maddux, Smoltz and Glavine, the Braves had three additional players named to the 1998 All-Star Game: catcher Javy Lopez, shortstop Walt Weiss and first baseman Andrew Galarraga.
The Braves won a World Series title in the lockout-shortened 1995 season. The Braves finished 1995 with the best record in the National League. The club had the best record in the NL in each of the following three seasons, but failed to win the World Series again, until 2021.
The 1996 Braves reached the World Series, falling to the New York Yankees in six games. In 1997, the Braves won 101 games, but lost to their division rival, the Florida Marlins, in six games in the NLCS. The Marlins won the NL Wild Card that season, and would go on to win the World Series.
The Braves entered the 1998 season with lofty hopes, but as the song explains, the club came up short of meeting its ultimate goal of winning a World Series. The 1998 Braves won an NL-best 106 games. After sweeping the Chicago Cubs in the NLDS, the Braves fell to the San Diego Padres in six games in the NLCS.
The Padres, led by Tony Gwynn and Greg Vaughn, would go on to be swept by the New York Yankees in the World Series.
ESPN columnist wrote that the 1998 Braves pitching staff of Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, Denny Neagle and Kevin Millwood is one of the greatest rotations of all-time. The five pitchers combined for a cumulative 2.97 ERA and 88 wins.
The 1998 Braves were an unbelievable team, but for whatever reason, couldn't seal the deal and accomplish their ultimate goal, which Wallen compares to a previous relationship.
"We got close, but close doesn't cut it
Had a good run, to end up with nothin'
But a 3x5 that you hide in a drawer
We swung for the fences and came up short
Yeah, you win some, you lose some, it ain't always home runs
And that's just the way life plays
If we were a team, and love was a game
We'd have been the '98 Braves."
Similar to the Braves, Wallen had a relationship that should have ended with a ring, but for whatever reason, he and his ex-girlfriend didn't end up working out.
"Had that whole town believin'
Damn, girl, I even had that talk to your dad, man to man
But just like that season
Girl, you and me didn't end with a ring on a hand"
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