I was thinking about this a lot lately. I’ve seen talk here or there about the Braves and Phillies not being rivals until they got into the same division….and that’s not how I remember it.Might not be what you wanna hear right now, but the Braves are going to be healthy/better next season. I think we can all admit that.
As a for instance….as great as beating the Braves was last week it just didn’t hold the same resonance for me as bearing them in 1993. And it got me wondering why. The Braves were really good in 93, but just really starting their long run of being great.
I think it’s because we were not local to Philly. The only way to watch the Phillies back then if they weren’t on a national or prime time game was against the Cubs on WGN or the Braves in TBS. I think being able to view games that way made the Braves a rival to me.
All that to say….I hated the Braves back then but respected what they built. And it’s the exact same thing now. They will be around the top of the division for a long while.