Braves fans optimistic about future as playoff baseball returns to Atlanta

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves were facing elimination from the playoffs Sunday night at SunTrust Park, trailing the Los Angeles Dodgers by two games in the National League Division Series.

Micayla Smith, a 10-year-old from Decatur, had an interesting strategy to make the Braves’ bats come alive in Game 3.

“I’m going to yell at them until they hit,” Smith said.

Perhaps Smith’s technique worked because the Braves exploded for five runs in the second inning. Smith and her grandmother, Lillie Thomas, were among the announced crowd of 42,385 fans -- the largest ever in SunTrust Park history -- to see the Braves win 6-5 Sunday night, their first playoff victory since 2013.

Thomas, 54, of Avondale Estates, has been a season-ticket holder since 2007. She brought her granddaughter to her first game at Turner Field when the girl was just 3 months old.

“She’s their No. 1 fan,” Thomas said. “We already have three seats paid for next season. We’re not fair-weather fans. We’re here, win or lose.”

Channel 2 Sports Director Zach Klein will be at Game 4. WATCH Channel 2 Action News for LIVE reports from SunTrust Park.

Micayla, a student at 4/5 Academy in Decatur, grew up loving Chipper Jones but says her favorite player now is Ozzie Albies.

The 21-year-old second baseman, who batted one-for-three Sunday night with a run scored, is part of a young core for the Braves that already has fans excited for next season.

To the surprise of many, the Braves improved by 18 wins in their second season in Cobb County and took the National League’s East Division by storm. That was in part due to the stellar play of Albies and 20-year-old Ronald Acuna Jr., who leads the team in home runs with 27 dingers.

But one person who wasn’t taken aback by the Braves this season was Jeanette Marlier, a season-ticket holder from Jacksonville, Florida. She and her mother, Jean, don’t come to every game but make the five-hour drive from Florida’s coast once or twice a month.

TRENDING STORIES:

When Marlier, 37, isn’t watching the Braves, she’s working for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (yes, that’s the real name of a real team), the Double A minor league affiliate of the Miami Marlins. The Jumbo Shrimp often face the Braves’ Double-A affiliate from Pearl, Mississippi, so Marlier has seen the “baby Braves” up-close.

“It’s a surprise for people that don’t pay attention to the minor leagues,” Marlier said. “It’s going to be a few good years with this group. I know how good they are, but I was surprised to see them get it together so fast and to have melded so well as a team. This (playoff run) is like icing on the cake. The rest of the league better be scared after this year.”

While Braves fans are exuberant about the fact that playoff baseball is back in metro Atlanta, many of them think the best is yet to come with this group of players.

Kyle Ramsey, 33, of McDonough, has especially lofty aspirations for this Braves team. He’s hoping they can shatter whatever hex was placed on Atlanta sports -- you know, the one that caused the Falcons to flush away a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl, and the one that allowed Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa to connect on a long pass to beat the Georgia Bulldogs in the National Championship.

“I hate to say it, but we have a curse in Atlanta. Everybody knows about it, but these young guys really have an opportunity to change it,” Ramsey said. “Being as we’re ahead of schedule on what everyone was expecting, I mean that’s high hopes for the future, regardless of how things go this year. I’m ready for the years to come.”

Ramsey is a lifelong Braves fan. Not even a cast on his right foot could keep him away from the team’s first home playoff game in five seasons. Ramsey had surgery on the foot to repair split tendons and torn ligaments. He had it propped up on his seat above the third baseline.

“It’s been unexpected,” Ramsey said of the Braves. “I had predictions that we would be in the middle of the pack, maybe have a .500 season, but I never expected to win the division and win 90 games.”

Ramsey was wishing Sunday’s game would start with a lead-off home run from Acuna. It didn’t, but the Venezuelan outfielder hit a grand slam in the bottom of the second inning that gave the Braves a big advantage.

Justin Pinyin, 34, of Lawrenceville, wasn’t going to miss this game either.

Pinyin viewed the first Braves playoff game since 2013 as a special occasion, so he went to Amazon and bought a Native American headdress, making him look like the former Braves mascot, “Chief Noc-A-Homa.” The feathers in the headdress were blue and red, matching the Braves colors.

“I’m just a die-hard fan,” said Pinyin, who followed the Braves on TBS while growing up in North Carolina. “I’ve been watching them since I was in diapers.”

Like most other folks in SunTrust Park on Sunday, Pinyin is enjoying this Braves run, but he thinks brighter days are ahead for Freddie Freeman and the gang.

“I think next year and the year after, they’ll be tough to handle,” Pinyin said. “Even if they had gotten swept, people better be watching out for them next year and the year after.”

This article was written by Mitchell Northam, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Want more Braves’ coverage? Turn to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s digital newspaper -- the AJCePaper -- for photos, analysis and behind-the-scenes details from the last game. Subscribers will find the special digital section delivered to their email inbox at noon on days after Braves games. You can also go to myAJC.com/ePaper.

Cox Media Group