ATLANTA — Atlanta is partying like it’s 1999 for the World Series – and it seems most of the rest of the country is with us.
Back in the 90s the Braves were considered “America’s Team” – they were in a unique position where, because of owner Ted Turner and his TBS “Superstation” cable channel, their games were available on TV across the country.
Combine that with their immense success in the 90s – which included five World Series trips and one championship – and a generation of baseball fans became Braves fans even if they lived in, say, Alaska.
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Fast forward to 2021, and it appears much of the country is behind the Braves again.
The betting website betonline.ag researched the frequency of the teams’ fan hashtags – #BattleATL for the Braves, #ForTheH for the Astros – and found all but three states are pulling for Atlanta.
Texas is the obvious Astros holdout – they also had their neighbor, Louisiana, and Delaware in their corner. We’re not sure what the Braves did to Delaware.
While it’s nice to know most of the country has our back, our friends at KHOU – 11Alive’s sister station in Houston – were less impressed:
It’s also worth noting that some of that imbalance in fan support across the country might come from lingering bad feelings over the Astros cheating scandal. Last year Nick Markakis, who was with the Braves at the time, made headlines for saying “every single guy over there needs a beating.”
But we’re choosing to emphasize the positive here in the nationwide Braves support.
Game 1 is Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET.