ATLANTA — Jorge Soler provided some of those most thunderous moments of the 2021 World Series - and for his efforts, he was named the series MVP.
The outfielder becomes just the second Cuban-born World Series MVP, after Liván Hernández did so for the Marlins in 1997.
Soler's stats during the World Series were out of this world - he hit .300 with a .391 on-base percentage and an .800 slugging percentage, the last of those an utterly preposterous statistic.
On top of that he hit three home runs in six games, with a double and six RBIs.
He set the pace from the get-go, socking a home run to lead off Game 1 in Houston to become the first player to ever hit a homer in the very first plate appearance of the World Series.
The 2021 postseason was not supposed to happen like this - not for these Braves, who only won 88 games and were without arguably their best player, Ronald Acuña after his injury earlier in the summer.
But these Braves, despite their less-than-sterling resume, had something else that made them special beyond just wins and stats - they had a team spirit and a gritty resolve that showed up time and time again.
They beat the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLDS, a quality opponent, and then overcame the heavily-favored defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS.
And then, in the World Series, they beat the vaunted Houston Astros in six games.
Both for Braves fans who remember all the near-misses of the 90s and subsequent (and, of course, the one title), and to younger fans who don't even know what it was like to root for the Braves when they were "America's Team," - tonight is a special, special night.