The Atlanta Braves overcame a season full of setbacks to win the World Series for the first time since 1995 after a 7-0 victory over the Houston Astros in Tuesday's Game Six sealed the championship 4-2.
The Braves' run through the postseason included series victories over the Milwaukee Brewers and defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers before beating the favoured Astros in the best-of-seven 'Fall Classic'.
It marked the second World Series title for the Braves since the team moved to Atlanta from Milwaukee in 1966 and denied the Astros a second championship in five years.
First baseman Freddie Freeman, who has been with the Braves since 2007, said the team had come through so much this season.
"This team hit every pothole and bump you could possibly hit this year," Freeman said.
"Every thing that could go wrong, went wrong, and we overcame every single one of those things. We came in every single day and prepared and worked and ended up world champions."
The Braves had lost pitcher Mike Soroka for the season due to an Achilles injury, outfielder Ronald Acuna in July to a torn anterior cruciate ligament, and starter Charlie Morton a week ago when his leg was broken by a comebacker in Game One.
Outfielder Marcell Ozuna was placed on administrative leave by Major League Baseball after being arrested in May for allegedly assaulting his wife.
The club rebuilt ahead of July's trade deadline with the acquisitions of Jorge Soler, Adam Duvall, Eddie Rosario and Joc Pederson and they found their stride down the stretch.
The Braves struck in the third inning when Soler crushed a breaking ball from Luis Garcia 446 feet and out of Minute Maid Park for a 3-0 lead that stunned the Houston crowd.
The 29-year-old slugger dropped his bat, thumped his chest and pointed to the Braves dugout before setting out to round the bases.
Soler, who hit three home runs and had six RBIs in the series, was named the Most Valuable Player after the game.
Dansby Swanson extended the Braves' lead in the top of the fifth with a two-run shot to left field and Freeman tacked on another with an RBI double off the left field fence that put the Braves up 6-0.
Freeman struck again in the seventh when he pounded a solo home run to left center as Braves fans watching the game on screens inside Atlanta's Truist Park got the party started early.
Braves ace Max Fried rebounded strongly after being roughed up in his last two starts. The left-handed starter gave up just four hits while striking out six and walking none over six innings.
Atlanta's bullpen took it the rest of the way, Tyler Matzek striking out the side in the eighth and closer Will Smith getting Yuli Gurriel to ground out to Swanson in the bottom of the ninth to end the series.
Braves manager Brian Snitker, who has been with the organization for 45 years, said the victory showed the team's resilience.
"We lost a lot of pieces over the course of the summer and it was just next man up," Snitker said.
"These guys never stopped believing in themselves, they never stopped working."
The Braves franchise, which dates back to the 1870s, also won a title 1914 when they were in Boston and in 1957 when they played in Milwaukee. Their 1995 win came against the Cleveland Indians.
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The BIO:
He became the first Emirati to climb Mount Everest in 2011, from the south section in Nepal
He ascended Mount Everest the next year from the more treacherous north Tibetan side
By 2015, he had completed the Explorers Grand Slam
Last year, he conquered K2, the world’s second-highest mountain located on the Pakistan-Chinese border
He carries dried camel meat, dried dates and a wheat mixture for the final summit push
His new goal is to climb 14 peaks that are more than 8,000 metres above sea level
Tonight's Chat on The National
Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.
Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.
Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.
Facebook | Our website | Instagram
Ferrari
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Michael%20Mann%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Adam%20Driver%2C%20Penelope%20Cruz%2C%20Shailene%20Woodley%2C%20Patrick%20Dempsey%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
