It’s Unofficial 1990s Throwback Night at Yankee Stadium on Friday, as the Atlanta Braves are in town to face the Yankees for a three-game set.
These showdowns always bring to mind fond—for us anyway—memories of the 1996 and 1999 Fall Classics, when the Yankees came back from down 0-2 to win their first championship in 18 years and then when they polished off a similarly potent Braves team in a four-game sweep durig the final year of the 20th century (securing a repeat to follow the act of the legendary
1998 club). Of course, it’s been many years since those rumbles, and from 2001 onward, the Yankees and Braves have the same number of titles: one apiece, in 2009 and 2021 respectively.
Tonight has a special sort of buzz about it, as erstwhile Braves ace Max Fried—who won the World Series clincher in Houston during that special 2021—will face his old team for the first time. The personnel has changed a bit since Fried departed after 2024 (including now-retired skipper Brian Snitker), but Ronald Acuña Jr., Ozzie Albies, Matt Olson, and plenty more are still around. Meanwhile, Atlanta will send out one of their Trade Deadline acquisitions, Tyler Mahle, who will make his Braves debut.
It’ll be a fun showdown … whenever they get to play it. The weather in the Bronx is crummy at the moment and even though first pitch is still an hour away, the Yankees have announced that the game will not begin at 7:05pm ET as expected. Whenever the Yanks and MLB offer updates, we’ll update our own article in turn. Stay dry and hang in there! The rain is supposed to subside, so we should get baseball tonight.
