2002 Atlanta Braves season

The 2002 Atlanta Braves season marked the franchise's 37th season in Atlanta and 132nd overall. The Braves won their eighth consecutive division title, finishing 19 games ahead of the second-place Montreal Expos. The Braves lost the 2002 Divisional Series to the eventual NL Champion San Francisco Giants, 3 games to 2. This would be the first of four consecutive NLDS losses in as many years, and the first of three consecutive years to do so by losing the deciding Game 5 at Turner Field.

2002 Atlanta Braves
National League East Champions
League	National League
Division	East
Ballpark	Turner Field
City	Atlanta
Record	101–59 (.631)
Divisional place	1st
Owners	AOL Time Warner
General managers	John Schuerholz
Managers	Bobby Cox
Television	TBS Superstation Turner South (Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray, Don Sutton, Joe Simpson) Fox Sports South (Tom Paciorek, Bob Rathbun)
Radio	WSB (AM) (Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray, Don Sutton, Joe Simpson) WWWE (Marcelo Godoy, Jose Manuel Flores)
← 2001 Seasons 2003 →

2002 marked the final year that pitchers Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz played on the same team ending the reign of what has been considered by many the greatest pitching trio of all-time. All three would be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame a decade later. Smoltz set the Braves' single season record for saves (55). Chipper Jones moved to the outfield in left field to allow for Vinny Castilla to be signed and added to the lineup at third base. Julio Franco became a regular player in the second stint of his Major League career and Gary Sheffield was acquired to the Braves in 2002, playing at right field.

Offseason

• October 26, 2001: Aaron Small was signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves.^[1]
• December 4, 2001: John Smoltz was re-signed from free agency back to the Atlanta Braves.^[2]
• December 11, 2001: Vinny Castilla signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves.^[3]
• December 17, 2001: Julio Franco was re-signed from free agency back to the Atlanta Braves.^[4]
• January 15, 2002: Gary Sheffield was traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Atlanta Braves for Andrew Brown, Brian Jordan and Odalis Pérez.^[5]
• January 16, 2002: Doug Linton was signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves.^[6]
• March 20, 2002: Henry Blanco was traded by the Milwaukee Brewers to the Atlanta Braves for Paul Bako and Jose Cabrera.^[7]

Regular season

Opening Day starters

• Vinny Castilla
• Rafael Furcal
• Marcus Giles
• Tom Glavine
• Andruw Jones
• Chipper Jones
• Javy López
• Gary Sheffield
• B. J. Surhoff^[8]

Season standings

National League East

v t e NL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Atlanta Braves	101	59	0.631	—	52–28	49–31
Montreal Expos	83	79	0.512	19	49–32	34–47
Philadelphia Phillies	80	81	0.497	21½	40–40	40–41
Florida Marlins	79	83	0.488	23	46–35	33–48
New York Mets	75	86	0.466	26½	38–43	37–43

Record vs. opponents

2002 National League record v t e Source: [1]
Team	AZ	ATL	CHC	CIN	COL	FLA	HOU	LA	MIL	MTL	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL	AL
Arizona	—	3–3	4–2	6–0	14–5	5–1	3–3	9–10	4–2	4–2	5–2	4–3	4–2	12–7	8–11	2–4	11–7
Atlanta	3–3	—	4–2	4–2	4–3	11–8	3–3	2–4	5–1	13–6	12–7	11–7	3–3	3–3	3–3	5–1	15–3
Chicago	2–4	2–4	—	5–12	4–2	4–2	8–11	2–4	7–10	3–3	1–5	2–4	10–9	2–4	3–3	6–12	6–6
Cincinnati	0–6	2–4	12–5	—	3–3	5–1	6–11	4–2	13–6	1–5	2–4	2–4	11–7	5–1	2–4	8–11	2–10
Colorado	5–14	3–4	2–4	3–3	—	5–2	3–3	7–12	3–3	4–2	3–3	3–3	4–2	11–8	8–12	2–4	7–11
Florida	1–5	8–11	2–4	1–5	2–5	—	3–3	3–3	4–2	10–9	8–11	10–9	4–2	5–1	4–3	4–2	10–8
Houston	3–3	3–3	11–8	11–6	3–3	3–3	—	3–3	10–8	3–3	4–2	3–3	11–6	4–2	1–5	6–13	5–7
Los Angeles	10–9	4–2	4–2	2–4	12–7	3–3	3–3	—	5–1	5–2	4–2	4–3	4–2	10–9	8–11	2–4	12–6
Milwaukee	2–4	1–5	10–7	6–13	3–3	2–4	8–10	1–5	—	2–4	1–5	1–5	4–15	5–1	1–5	7–10	2–10
Montreal	2–4	6–13	3–3	5–1	2–4	9–10	3–3	2–5	4–2	—	11–8	11–8	3–3	3–4	4–2	3–3	12–6
New York	2–5	7–12	5–1	4–2	3–3	11–8	2–4	2–4	5–1	8–11	—	9–10	1–4	3–4	0–6	3–3	10–8
Philadelphia	3–4	7–11	4–2	4–2	3–3	9–10	3–3	3–4	5–1	8–11	10–9	—	2–4	2–4	3–3	4–2	10–8
Pittsburgh	2–4	3–3	9–10	7–11	2–4	2–4	6–11	2–4	15–4	3–3	4–1	4–2	—	2–4	2–4	6–11	3–9
San Diego	7–12	3–3	4–2	1–5	8–11	1–5	2–4	9–10	1–5	4–3	4–3	4–2	4–2	—	5–14	1–5	8–10
San Francisco	11–8	3–3	3–3	4–2	11–8	3–4	5–1	11–8	5–1	2–4	6–0	3–3	4–2	14–5	—	2–4	8–10
St. Louis	4–2	1–5	12–6	11–8	4–2	2–4	13–6	4–2	10–7	3–3	3–3	2–4	11–6	5–1	4–2	—	8–4

Transactions

• June 4, 2002: Jeff Francoeur was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 1st round (23rd pick) of the 2002 amateur draft. Player signed July 8, 2002.^[9]
• September 30, 2002: Aaron Small was released by the Atlanta Braves.^[1]

Roster

2002 Atlanta Braves
Roster
Pitchers 30 Jung Bong 33 Joey Dawley 56 John Ennis 48 John Foster 47 Tom Glavine 49 Kevin Gryboski 36 Chris Hammond 45 Trey Hodges 40 Darren Holmes 46 Kerry Ligtenberg 32 Albie Lopez 31 Greg Maddux 38 Jason Marquis 34 Kevin Millwood 27 Damian Moss 26 Andy Pratt 37 Mike Remlinger 30 Aaron Small 29 John Smoltz 43 Tim Spooneybarger		Catchers 20 Henry Blanco  8 Javy López 50 Steve Torrealba Infielders 19 Vinny Castilla 16 Mark DeRosa 4,23 Julio Franco  4 Matt Franco  1 Rafael Furcal  2 Jesse Garcia 22 Marcus Giles 18 Wes Helms  7 Keith Lockhart 15 B. J. Surhoff		Outfielders 28 Darren Bragg 25 Andruw Jones 10 Chipper Jones 72 Ryan Langerhans 11 Gary Sheffield		Manager  6 Bobby Cox Coaches 39 Pat Corrales (bench) 52 Bobby Dews (bullpen) 17 Glenn Hubbard (1st base) 54 Leo Mazzone (pitching)  9 Terry Pendleton (hitting)  5 Ned Yost (3rd base)

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Javy López	109	347	81	.233	11	52
1B	Julio Franco	125	338	96	.284	6	30
2B	Keith Lockhart	128	296	64	.216	5	32
SS	Rafael Furcal	154	636	175	.275	8	47
3B	Vinny Castilla	143	543	126	.232	12	61
LF	Chipper Jones	158	548	179	.327	26	100
CF	Andruw Jones	154	560	148	.264	35	94
RF	Gary Sheffield	135	492	151	.307	25	84

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Henry Blanco	81	221	45	.204	6	22
Marcus Giles	68	213	49	.230	8	23
Darren Bragg	109	212	57	.269	3	15
Mark DeRosa	72	212	63	.297	5	23
Wes Helms	85	210	51	.243	6	22
Matt Franco	81	205	65	.317	6	30
B.J. Surhoff	25	75	22	.293	0	9
Jesse Garcia	39	61	12	.197	0	5
Steve Torrealba	13	17	1	.059	0	1
Ryan Langerhans	1	1	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Tom Glavine	36	224.2	18	11	2.96	127
Kevin Millwood	35	217.0	18	8	3.24	178
Greg Maddux	34	199.1	16	6	2.62	118
Damian Moss	33	179.0	12	6	3.42	111
Jason Marquis	22	114.1	8	9	5.04	84
Jung Bong	1	6.0	0	1	7.50	4
John Ennis	1	4.0	0	0	4.50	1

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Albie Lopez	30	55.2	1	4	4.37	39

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
John Smoltz	75	3	2	55	3.25	85
Mike Remlinger	73	7	3	0	1.99	69
Chris Hammond	63	7	2	0	0.95	63
Kevin Gryboski	57	2	1	0	3.48	33
Darren Holmes	55	2	2	1	1.81	47
Kerry Ligtenberg	52	3	4	0	2.97	51
Tim Spooneybarger	51	1	0	1	2.63	33
John Foster	5	1	0	0	10.80	6
Trey Hodges	4	2	0	0	5.40	6
Andy Pratt	1	0	0	0	6.75	1
Joey Dawley	1	0	0	0	0.00	1
Aaron Small	1	0	0	0	27.00	1

2002 National League Division Series

San Francisco Giants vs. Atlanta Braves

San Francisco (eventual NL Champion) wins the series, 3-2

Game	Home	Score	Visitor	Score	Date	Stadium	Series
1	Atlanta	5	San Francisco	8	October 2	Turner Field	1-0 (SFO)
2	Atlanta	7	San Francisco	3	October 3	Turner Field	1-1
3	San Francisco	2	Atlanta	10	October 5	Pacific Bell Park	2-1 (ATL)
4	San Francisco	8	Atlanta	3	October 6	Pacific Bell Park	2-2
5	Atlanta	1	San Francisco	3	October 7	Turner Field	3-2 (SFO)

Award winners

2002 Major League Baseball season Braves' team pitching led the league with a 3.13 ERA. John Smoltz was National League Relief Man of the Year, as he led the league with 55 saves, which was a National League record at the time (since broken by Éric Gagné in 2003). Greg Maddux and Andruw Jones were chosen for Gold Glove awards.

2002 Major League Baseball All-Star Game Representing the Braves on the 2002 National League All-Star team were pitchers Tom Glavine, Mike Remlinger and John Smoltz. Andruw Jones was elected to receive the final roster spot on the 2002 National League All-Star team.

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Richmond Braves	International League	Fredi González
AA	Greenville Braves	Southern League	Brian Snitker
A	Myrtle Beach Pelicans	Carolina League	Randy Ingle
A	Macon Braves	South Atlantic League	Lynn Jones
Rookie	Danville Braves	Appalachian League	Ralph Henriquez
Rookie	GCL Braves	Gulf Coast League	Jim Saul

^[10][11]

References

1. "Aaron Small Stats".
2. "John Smoltz Stats".
3. "Vinny Castilla Stats".
4. Julio Franco Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
5. "Gary Sheffield Stats".
6. "Doug Linton Stats".
7. "Henry Blanco Stats".
8. "2002 Atlanta Braves Roster by Baseball Almanac".
9. Jeff Francoeur Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
10. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
11. Baseball America 2003 Annual Directory

• 2002 Atlanta Braves at Baseball Reference