How good was the Braves pitching in the 90's?

[CMIZ5290]

I just watched a program on FoxSports South called "The Three Aces"....About Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz. According to stats online, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine were a combined 668-430 in their careers! How in the Hell did the Braves not win more titles??

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by CMIZ5290

I just watched a program on FoxSports South called "The Three Aces"....About Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz. According to stats online, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine were a combined 668-430 in their careers! How in the Hell did the Braves not win more titles??

Didn't they make the playoffs something like 14 straight years and get to 5 WS? That's pretty damn good. They just weren't quite up to par for some reason in the WS even though you would think that format would have been a tremendous advantage to them with those 3 great starters.

[parker1b2]

They also had Steve Avery who was pretty good for a few years giving them a very good 4th starter

[HRBAKER]

Maddux 11-14 3.27
Glavine 14-16 3.30
Smoltz 15-4 2.67

A minor bit of Maddux & Glavine's stats were with other teams. It appears that the bats and bullpens could have been a significant part of the story.

I lived in Atlanta through all of it. Exciting and disappointing at the same time.

I did have the good fortune at attend Tom Glavine's masterful 8 inning one-hit performance in Game 6 in 1995 to beat the Indians 1-0 and win the only WS.

[CMIZ5290]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Didn't they make the playoffs something like 14 straight years and get to 5 WS? That's pretty damn good. They just weren't quite up to par for some reason in the WS even though you would think that format would have been a tremendous advantage to them with those 3 great starters.

You are spot on Peter. With these 3 starters, the post season should have been a huge advantage. Also noted, Steve Avery was a fantastic pitcher as well. Looking back on all of these Braves teams, outside of the starting pitchers, the Braves never really had a quote "Superstar" that was an every day player. Fred McGriff was probably the closest, and guess what, he was the key player the only year they won the WS (1995)

[HRBAKER]

I don't know, Chipper Jones was on the team with the Big Three from 1995 - 2002, he was pretty good. Some might say better than McGriff even.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Galaragga had a monster year or two, I think. Javy Lopez. Ryan Klesko. Andruw Jones. No shortage of bats.

[packs]

This is the exact reason I don't think Bobby Cox is any kind of HOFer. If you couldn't win more than once with those teams, are you really one of the best managers of all time?

[CMIZ5290]

Originally Posted by HRBAKER

I don't know, Chipper Jones was on the team with the Big Three from 1995 - 2002, he was pretty good. Some might say better than McGriff even.

Yes, good point about Chipper and Andres G.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Charlie Liebrant was decent had 15 wins a few time in the 90s

Also Danny Neagle 16 wins in at least one year and Kevin Millwood had a good year or 2 as part of that decade

Ron Gant had 30 homers at least a few times and other good years, Terry Pendleton was sold too

David Justice had 40 homers in a year

[Tripredacus]

No mention of pitching effectiveness in the NL than vs AL teams? It should be somewhat expected that any NL pitcher would do better, overall, vs another NL team, because there will be a pitcher in the batting order. I wonder what their pitching stats are for games against teams with and without a DH present.

[RCMcKenzie]

The Braves were very good...Baltimore had some good staffs during the Palmer years. Hard to beat 1907 Cubs or 2019 Astros though...(pic Orval Overall, 1907 Staff Ace for Cubs)