But only a 0.11 era difference in the playoffs man. Maddux was unlucky. Smoltz was too, but not to the same extent, he faced off against worse opposing pitchers more and got more run support. The braves bullpen was bleh in the 90s, the teams they lost to had better bullpens! I don’t blame Cox. He’d simply have to leave his pitchers in a little longer due to lack of depth. Never had a good bench in the 90s either.

I think the 1997 was the braves offense struggling, and the marlins being the better overall team. Game 3 featured John Smoltz for the braves and Saunders for the marlins lol. The braves led 2-1 going into the 7th, and then gave up 4 runs. 5-2 loss. Cox may have left Smoltz in a little too long, but the bullpen was nothing to write home about. Looking at the rosters, the marlins had more depth, just the braves had the best starting pitching. How the Braves didn’t score more runs is another story. Game 5 was legit cheating by Umpire Eric Gregg, no question. Marlins escaped. Game 7 would have been Smoltz and Saunders again I believe, can’t imagine the marlins win that match up again, but oh well.