Welcome to The Opener, where every weekday morning during the regular season you’ll get a fresh, topical column to start your day from one of SI.com’s MLB writers.
When Marquis Grissom caught the final out of the 1995 World Series to give Atlanta its first major pro sports championship, NBC announcer Bob Costas exclaimed, “The team of the ’90s has its world championship!” Looking back, however, even though the Braves reached five World Series during the final decade of the 20th century, setting off a string of 14 straight division titles—an MLB record—they aren’t remembered as the team of the ’90s.