Growing up in a small town in the middle of nowhere, we didn’t have a local MLB team, and it wasn’t until we got cable and the channel TBS that I finally became a fan of a single team. It was the first time I could follow a team throughout the entire season, and it felt like our own local team. And that team was the Atlanta Braves. I was still just a kid and didn’t realize that back then in the ‘80s, they weren’t very good. But I do remember a number of the players: Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, Glenn Hubbard, Gene Garber, Phil Neikro, and a host of others. And even though I was already hooked, I was still too young to be totally committed, and it wasn’t until the ‘90s with Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Terry Pendleton, David Justice, Mark Lemke, Jeff Blauser, and my favorite Brave of all time, Deion Sanders, that I truly became a diehard fan. I have the hats, the jerseys, the license plate, even took my father on a trip for his 70th birthday to Sun Trust Park in Atlanta when it first opened. Even though they won a World Series ring in ’95, it still felt a little hollow because during that same era they lost three other times. So when they started winning multiple Division titles in 2018 and came withing one game of going to the World Series in 2020, every Braves fan around the country was clamoring for another trip to the series.
All of us fans had high expectations for the team in 2021. They should have finished off the Dodgers last season, so they needed to deliver this year and win the National League Championship Series or the season would be a total loss. The Braves had most of their starters returning and early on it looked positive. But before anything got going a few players were hurt and then two of their biggest players were out for the season. The team was under .500 and their chances of even making the playoffs was looking slim. And as people began to write them off, management did something unexpected. Instead of trying to sell off players at the trade deadline they became buyers and started picking up big players like Jorge Soler, Joc Pederson, Eddie Rosario, and Adam Duvall. These players made immediate contributions to the team and lit a fire under the rest of them.
The eight disk Blu-ray collector’s edition contains game six of the NLCS, all six of the World Series Games, one feature-length documentary, and four Special Features:
- “How They Got There: Atlanta Braves”- An overview of the 2021 season and how the Braves got to the World Series.
- “2021 Walk-offs”- Highlights of the games where the Braves won during their final at bat.
- “Clinching Moments” – The final moments of the games where they won and moved on to the next tier of play.
- “World Series Parade” – A look at the parade they had at home after the final game.
- The documentary titled The 2021 World Series is narrated by rapper Ludacris. It covers some of the history of the two teams, interviews with players and coaches, and summarizes all of the games through the conclusion of the World Series. [The 2021 World Series is available as a standalone DVD and a Blu-ray/DVD combo. Cinema Sentries is giving away three copies of the latter. Access to the contest is posted below.]
- There is also a booklet called “Sleeve Stats” that shows the box scores along with important game related notes and trivia.
The Blu-ray is presented in 16×9 Widescreen 1.78:1 and is in various formats as it deals with older recordings, television, and the documentary. Even though the televised games are in a much better quality than the original airing, the documentary is an unbelievably high quality and is visually stunning even without a 4K television set. The sound quality has a DTS-HD Master Audio and is just as impressive as the visual with great immersive surround sound that brings you right into the game.
The entire Blu-ray package is very impressive and something that all baseball fans should enjoy, especially those that are Atlanta Braves fans. While it contains a huge amount of video, it comes across as a little sterile. Granted, we would rather not see commercials, but the game edits out all the pre-game hype as well as the after shows. There is a short discussion between two MLB analysts afterwards, but it’s done in a closed studio. Even after the World Series is won, it doesn’t show the celebration or even the trophy ceremony. Because of what is omitted it takes away a lot of the emotion and excitement of what was going on. But what the Blu-ray does have, it does very well and would make a great edition to anyone’s baseball collection.
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