1998 Atlanta Braves season

The 1998 Atlanta Braves season marked the franchise's 33rd season in Atlanta and 128th overall. They went on to win their fourth consecutive division title, taking the National League East title by 18 games over the second place New York Mets.

1998 Atlanta Braves
NL East Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record106–56 (.654)
Divisional place1st
Other information
Owner(s)Time Warner
General manager(s)John Schuerholz
Manager(s)Bobby Cox
Local televisionWTBS
TBS Superstation
(Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray, Don Sutton, Joe Simpson)
Fox Sports South
(Ernie Johnson, Bob Rathbun)
Local radioWSB (AM)
(Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray, Don Sutton, Joe Simpson)
< Previous season     Next season >

The team featured six all stars: shortstop Walt Weiss and third baseman Chipper Jones were voted as starters, while first baseman Andrés Galarraga, catcher Javy López, and pitchers Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux were selected as reserves. Jones and Lopez each hit over 30 home runs as Galaragga (acquired from Colorado) led the club in home runs and RBI. Galaragga finished as an MVP candidate.

The 1998 Braves beat the Chicago Cubs three games to none in the National League Division Series. In the next round Atlanta then lost to the San Diego Padres in the National League Championship Series four games to two. Despite winning two games after losing the first three, Atlanta's comeback bid came short by being eliminated in game 6. San Diego's winning over Atlanta was seen as one of the biggest upsets in postseason history.

This team has earned a few historic accolades. ESPN writer David Schoenfield lists them as one of the top teams in MLB history to not win a World Series[1]

ESPN columnist Jeff Merron also writes that the pitching staff of Maddux, Glavine, John Smoltz, Denny Neagle, and Kevin Millwood was the greatest of all time.[2] The quintet posted a cumulative 2.97 ERA and amassed 88 wins (almost 18 wins per starter), equaling the win total of the 2nd place Mets. The 1998 Braves are the only team in MLB history to have five pitchers each strike out 150 batters in the same season.[3] Glavine, the lone 20 game winner in the National League for that year, won the Cy Young Award.

Offseason
  • November 17, 1997: Walt Weiss was signed as a Free Agent with the Atlanta Braves.[4]
  • January 30, 1998: Dennis Martínez was signed as a Free Agent with the Atlanta Braves.[5]
  • February 6, 1998: Curtis Pride was signed as a Free Agent with the Atlanta Braves.[6]

Regular season
Tom Glavine pitches in spring training, 1998. Chipper Jones plays third base in background.

Opening Day starters


C Eddie Perez

1B Andres Galarraga

2B Tony Graffanino

3B Chipper Jones

SS Walt Weiss

LF Ryan Klesko

CF Andruw Jones

RF Michael Tucker

P Greg Maddux

Season standings
NL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Atlanta Braves 10656 0.654 — 56–25 50–31
New York Mets 8874 0.543 18 47–34 41–40
Philadelphia Phillies 7587 0.463 31 40–41 35–46
Montreal Expos 6597 0.401 41 39–42 26–55
Florida Marlins 54108 0.333 52 31–50 23–58

Record vs. opponents
1998 National League Records

Sources:
Team ARI ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LAD MIL MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL AL
Arizona —1–85–74–56–66–24–54–86–32–74–52–76–33–95–72–75–8
Atlanta 8–1—3–67–25–37–54–58–17–26–69–38–47–25–47–26–39–7
Chicago 7–56–3—6–57–27–24–74–56–67–24–53–68–35–47–34–75–8
Cincinnati 5–42–75–6—4–59–03–85–46–58–13–64–55–71–112–78–37-6
Colorado 6–63–52–75–4—6–36–56–64–77–23–65–45–45–77–53–64–8
Florida 2–65–72–70–93–6—3–64–50–95–75–76–63–64–50–94–58–8
Houston 5–45–47–48–35–66-3—3–69–27–25–47–29–25–46–35–710–4
Los Angeles 8–41–85–44–56–65–46–3—5–45–43–55–47–55–76–64–58–5
Milwaukee 3–62–76–65–67–49–02–94–5—6–31–84–56–53–65–43–88–6
Montreal 7–26–62–71–82–77–52–74–53–6—8–45–72–74–43–63–66–10
New York 5–43–95–46–36–37–54–55–38–14–8—8–44–54–54–56–39–7
Philadelphia 7-24–86–35–44–56–62–74–55–47–54–8—8–11–82–63–67–9
Pittsburgh 3–62–73–87–54–56–32–95–75–67–25–41–8—5–42–76–56–7
San Diego 9–34–54–511–17–55–44–57–56–34–45–48–14–5—8–46–36–7
San Francisco 7–52–73–77–25–79–03–66–64–56–35–46–27–24–8—7–58–5
St. Louis 7–23–67–43–86–35-47–55–48–36–33–66–35–63–65–7—4–9

Transactions
  • June 9, 1998: Howard Battle was signed as a Free Agent with the Atlanta Braves.[7]
  • June 23, 1998: Alan Embree was traded by the Atlanta Braves to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Russ Springer.[8]
  • August 14, 1998: Paul Byrd was selected off waivers by the Philadelphia Phillies from the Atlanta Braves.[9]

Roster
1998 Atlanta Braves
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starting Players

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Javy López 133 489 139 .284 34 107
1B Andrés Galarraga 153 555 169 .305 44 121
2B Keith Lockhart 109 366 94 .257 9 37
SS Walt Weiss 96 347 97 .280 0 27
3B Chipper Jones 160 601 188 .313 34 107
LF Ryan Klesko 129 427 117 .274 18 70
CF Andruw Jones 159 582 158 .271 31 90
RF Michael Tucker 130 414 101 .244 13 46

Other batters
Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Tony Graffanino 105 289 61 .211 5 22
Ozzie Guillén 83 264 73 .277 1 22
Gerald Williams 129 266 81 .305 10 44
Eddie Pérez 61 149 50 .336 6 32
Danny Bautista 82 144 36 .250 3 17
Curtis Pride 70 107 27 .252 3 9
Greg Colbrunn 28 44 13 .295 1 10
Marty Malloy 11 28 5 .179 1 1
Rafael Belliard 7 20 5 .250 0 1
Randall Simon 7 16 3 .188 0 4
Ray Holbert 8 15 2 .133 0 1
Wes Helms 7 13 4 .308 1 2
Damon Hollins 3 6 1 .167 0 0
George Lombard 6 6 2 .333 1 1
Mark DeRosa 5 3 1 .333 0 0

Starting pitchers
Player G IP W L ERA SO
Greg Maddux 34 251.0 18 9 2.22 204
Tom Glavine 33 229.1 20 6 2.47 157
Denny Neagle 32 210.1 16 11 3.55 165
Kevin Millwood 31 174.1 17 8 4.08 163
John Smoltz 26 167.2 17 3 2.90 173
Bruce Chen 4 20.1 2 0 3.98 17

Other pitchers
Player G IP W L ERA

N/A

Relief pitchers
Player G W L SV ERA SO
Kerry Ligtenberg 75 3 2 30 2.71 79
Dennis Martínez 53 4 6 2 4.45 62
John Rocker 47 1 3 2 2.13 42
Mike Cather 36 2 2 0 3.92 33
Rudy Seánez 34 4 1 2 2.75 50
Mark Wohlers 27 0 1 8 10.18 22
Russ Springer 22 1 1 0 4.05 19
Alan Embree 20 1 0 0 4.34 19
Norm Charlton 13 0 0 1 1.38 6
Brian Edmondson 10 0 1 0 4.32 8
Adam Butler 8 0 1 0 10.80 7
Paul Byrd 1 0 0 0 13.50 1

National League Division Series
Main article: 1998 National League Division Series

Atlanta Braves vs. Chicago Cubs

Atlanta wins the series, 3-0

Game Home Score Visitor Score Date Series
1Atlanta7Chicago1September 301-0 (ATL)
2Atlanta2Chicago1October 12-0 (ATL)
3Chicago2Atlanta6October 33-0 (ATL)

National League Championship Series
Main article: 1998 National League Championship Series

Game 1

October 7: Turner Field in Atlanta

Team12345678910RHE
San Diego0000100101370
Atlanta0010000010283
WP: Trevor Hoffman (1-0)   LP: Kerry Ligtenberg (0-1)
Home runs:
SD: Ken Caminiti (1)
Atl: Andruw Jones (1)

Game 2

October 8: Turner Field in Atlanta

Team123456789RHE
San Diego0000010023110
Atlanta000000000031
WP: Kevin Brown (1-0)   LP: Tom Glavine (0-1)

Game 3

October 10: Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California

Team123456789RHE
Atlanta001000000182
San Diego00002002X470
WP: Sterling Hitchcock (1-0)   LP: Greg Maddux (0-1)   Sv: Trevor Hoffman (1)

Game 4

October 11: Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California

Team123456789RHE
Atlanta0001016008120
San Diego002001000380
WP: Dennis Martínez (1-0)   LP: Joey Hamilton (0-1)
Home runs:
Atl: Javy López (1), Andrés Galarraga (1)
SD: Jim Leyritz (1)

Game 5

October 12: Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California

Team123456789RHE
Atlanta0001010507141
San Diego2000020026101
WP: John Rocker (1-0)   LP: Kevin Brown (1-1)   Sv: Greg Maddux (1)
Home runs:
Atl: Michael Tucker (1)
SD: Ken Caminiti (2), John Vander Wal (1)

Game 6

October 14: Turner Field in Atlanta

Team123456789RHE
San Diego0000050005100
Atlanta000000000021
WP: Sterling Hitchcock (2-0)   LP: Tom Glavine (0-2)

Award winners

1998 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Richmond Braves International League Jeff Cox
AA Greenville Braves Southern League Randy Ingle
A Danville 97s Carolina League Paul Runge
A Macon Braves South Atlantic League Brian Snitker
A-Short Season Eugene Emeralds Northwest League Jim Saul
Rookie Danville Braves Appalachian League Franklin Stubbs
Rookie GCL Braves Gulf Coast League Rick Albert

[10]

References
  1. http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/32354/greatest-teams-ever-the-almost-greats
  2. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=list/greatestrotations
  3. "Pitching Season Finder, For single seasons, From 1901 to 2017, (requiring SO>=150)". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
  4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/w/weisswa01.shtml
  5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/martide01.shtml
  6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/p/pridecu01.shtml
  7. Howard Battle Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  8. Alan Embree Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  9. Paul Byrd Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  10. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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