Why Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos Missed Team's World Series Win
The Atlanta Braves won the 2021 World Series by beating the Houston Astros 7-0 in Game 6 of the series. The only negative thing about the Braves winning their first world championship since 1995 is they had to do it without their general manager Alex Anthopoulos. The 44-year-old told ESPN's Buster Olney that he couldn't attend the series-clinching game because he tested positive for COVID-19 this past weekend.
"I wanted to keep it quiet to not take any chance that I would be a distraction before the end of the series," Anthopoulos told Olney via text. "I'm totally fine. I watched with the whole family at home. Very happy." According to Sportsnet, Anthopoulos said he was didn't sick and was fully vaccinated.
Anthopoulos is a big reason why the Braves are world champions. He treaded for four outfielders and a relief pitcher before the trade deadline, and the moves got the team from being under .500 to being the No. 1 team in all of baseball. He's been the Braves general manager since 2017, and they have reached the playoffs the last four seasons. On Sportsnet, Anthopoulos talked about getting his start in MLB.
"There's no doubt it's been an incredibly long journey," Anthopoulos told Jeff Blair and Kevin Barker on Sportsnet 590 Wednesday. "I was 23 when I started. I had had a little bit of a taste of a 'real job' working at my dad's heating and ventilation company. He was an engineer, he went to McGill in Montreal. I didn't do any of those things. He enjoyed it and I hated it. I tried it for two years — I took night classes and I tried to make myself enjoy it, and it wasn't my thing. And then once I'd gotten a taste of going to work every day and not liking what you do, I was so determined just to find something that I loved."
The Braves have now won four World Series in their history, and two of them have come in Atlanta. The team will have a parade that will start in downtown Atlanta and end at the Braves home stadium Truist Park located in Cobb County, Georgia.