ATLANTA — The Braves were in the early stages of an amazing playoff run. In 1993, the team won more games during the regular season than any other.
The Philadelphia Phillies cared nothing about the Braves' success during the National League Championship Series. They blocked the Braves from a third straight trip to the World Series.
It's the last time the two teams met in baseball's postseason.
The 2022 Major League Baseball playoffs bring us a rematch that is 29 years in the making.
The Braves had Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz anchoring the best pitching squad in baseball. The Phillies countered with pitcher Curt Schilling, along with sluggers John Kruk and Lenny Dykstra.
The Phillies won the first game in extra innings, before the Braves jumped on them to take a 2-1 lead by winning with a combined 23-7 score between Games 2 and 3.
But the Phillies proved the better team in this series in close games - winning 2-1 in Game 4, and another 4-3, 10-inning contest in Game 5.
The fifth game was particularly back breaking. Atlanta scored three in the bottom of the ninth to tie it - Fred McGriff with an RBI single, David Justice bringing in a run on a sac fly and Francisco Cabrera singling in the tying run.
With Terry Pendleton on third and only one out, the Braves were well-positioned to bring in the winning run - but Mark Lemke struck out swinging and Bill Pecota flied out to center to end the threat.
The next inning, Dykstra homered off Mark Wohlers and the Braves went down quietly in the 10th.
Philadelphia's 6-3 win over the Braves in Game 6 ended the series. A group of boisterous Phillies fans surrounded the Braves team bus as they attempted to leave Veterans Stadium, some of them throwing trash.
"A Philadelpha sports fan is a lunatic," one fan told 11Alive's Jerry Carnes. "We're crazy about our sports."
- Game 1: Phillies 4, Braves 3 (10 innings)
- Game 2: Braves 14, Phillies 3
- Game 3: Braves 9, Phillies 4
- Game 4: Phillies 2, Braves 1
- Game 5: Phillies 4, Braves 3 (10 innings)
- Game 6: Phillies 6, Braves 3
The Braves returned to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport to a cheering crowd who showed their appreciation for a team that had gone from one of the worst in baseball to one of the best.
It would be the Phillies who went on the World Series that year, losing to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Two years later, the Atlanta Braves defeated the Cleveland Indians for the city's first World Series title.