52. With his Tampa Rays jettisoned from the MLB playoffs, Port Orange Mayor Don Burnette went to Plan B - the Atlanta Braves - who won the World Series

Top 100 Stories 2021 / Headline SurferCounting 'em Down: For better or for worse, this is the Headline Surfer countdown of the 2021's Top 100 biggest news stories of Central Florida along the tourism-driven stretch of Interstate 4 (Orlando Attractions and east to I-95 & the World's Most Famous Beach in Daytona). Each recap segment is posted with its own headline, culminating with the unveiling of No. 1 on New Year's Day or shortly thereafter. Then Headline Surfer will post a Top 10 forecast story of the good, the bad & the ugly on the horizon in "2022: The Year That Lies Ahead." 

Photo for Headline Surfer / Port Orange Mayor Don Burnette is shown with his son, Patrick Burnette, 20, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida on Oct. 7, to see the Tampa Rays defeat the Boston Red Sox, 5-1 in the opening game of American League Division series. However, the Red Sox would win the next three games in a row to jettison the Rays from the MLB playoffs. So Burnette switched to his other fave team, the Atlanta Braves, who would go on to win the 2021 World Series.

By HENRY FREDERICK / Headline Surfer

PORT ORANGE, Fla. -- With his beloved Tampa Rays eliminated from the MLB playoffs by the upstart Boston Red Sox, Port Orange Mayor Don Burnette did what any politician worth his salt would do.: He went to Plan B.

 Burnette was now rooting for the Atlanta Braves to win the World Series.

And win they did! 

The Rays won 100 games in the regular season to capture the American League East crown by eight games over the Red Sox and New York Yankees. They were considered the American League favorite to win go to the World Series. 

Tampa, in fact, won the most games in the American League conference and were the third-winningest ballclub overall behind the National League's San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers at 107 and 106 wins each, respectively. 

The Red Sox defeated the Yankees in the AL Wild Card game, 6-2, in what was considered a toss-up affair. But then the Rays were jettisoned by the Red Sox in the AL divisional round best of five, with Boston prevailing 3 games to 1.

That was a tough pill to swallow for Burnette, who attended the first game of the playoff series in Tampa, which the Rays won by a score of 5-1. The Rays lost the second game, 14-6, and the next two games as well to find themselves gone from the playoffs.

Burnette, mayor since 2016 and a big sports fan, told Headline Surfer it was "disappointing to lose after attending game one and seeing them win big." He attended that first game with his son, Patrick, 20, and they enjoyed Tampa's convincing 5-1 win. 

But the Red Sox came roaring back to win the next three games to knock off Burnette's Rays.

Don Burnette, mayor since 2016 and a big sports fan, told Headline Surfer it was "disappointing to lose after attending game one and seeing them win big." He attended that first game with his son, Patrick, 20, and they enjoyed Tampa's convincing 5-1 win. But the Red Sox came roaring back to win the next three games to knock off Burnette's Rays.

Burnette first felt the stinging pain of the Red Sox in game 2 with slugger JD Martinez hitting a tiebreaking, three-run homer in his return to the lineup and the Red Sox backed Tanner Houck's clutch relief effort with a franchise postseason record five home runs, rallying past the Rays 14-6 to even the series 1-1.

The pain after game 3 was particularly rough for Burnette with Christian Vázquez's walk-off home run in the 13th inning to give the Red Sox a 6-4 win and a 2-1 series lead.

The Red Sox won game 4 by a score of 3-1yet again in walk-off fashion, with Kiké Hernández's sacrifice fly in the ninth.

And so the Tampa Rays' season was over just like that.

But baseball was not over yet for Burnette, who turned to his back-up, the Atlanta Braves, considered the weakest of all the post-season teams. "Now it’s time to root for the Braves," Burnette told Headline Surfer with a nervous laugh. 

But baseball was not over yet for Burnette, who turned to his back-up, the Atlanta Braves, considered the weakest of all the post-season teams. "Now it’s time to root for the Braves," Burnette told Headline Surfer with a nervous laugh. 

These were not the 1990's Braves with Hall of Fame pitchers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, or John Smoltz. No these were the National League East Division winning Atlanta Braves, who won 88 games and in the midst of their fourth consecutive post-season run.

But these Braves had the one player who stood tall in 2021 - first baseman Freddie Freeman. First, a quick summary of where the post-season stood. 

The Dodgers got by the St. Louis Cardinals with the NL wildcard game, 3-1, and in the AL wild-card elimination game, the Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees, 6-2. Then came the divisional round: The Red Sox defeated the Rays in the AL and the Dodgers knocked off the Giants in the NL. The Houston Astros disposed of the Chicago White Sox in the other AL contest and the Braves knocked out the Milwaukee Brewers in the other NL divisional series.

Then it was down to four teams: The Red Sox-Astros in the AL and the Braves and Dodgers in the NL. Houston got by the Red Sox and Atlanta knocked out the Dodgers. And so it was the Hoston Astros of the AL vs. the Braves of the NL.

Burnette was feeling really good about the Braves, having seen them get to the World Series, despite being the team least likely to get that far, especially with the uber-potent Giants and Dodgers.

But the Braves, led by Freeman defeated the Astros in six games to take the baseball crown as 2021World Series champions.

"Phenomenal - just phenomenal," Burnette said.

Henry Frederick bio / Headline Surfer

About the Byline Writer: Henry Frederick is a member of the working press and publisher of Headline Surfer, the award-winning 24/7 internet news outlet launched in 2008, that serves greater Daytona Beach, Sanford & Orlando from Lake Mary, Florida via HeadlineSurfer.com. Frederick has amassed close to 150 award-winning bylines in print & online. He earned his Master of Arts in New Media Journalism from Full Sail University in 2019. He was a breaking news reporter (metro cops & courts beat) for the Daytona Beach News-Journal for nearly a decade. And Before that worked the same beat for The Journal-News/Gannett Suburban Newspapers in Rockland/Westchester counties, NY, dating back to 1989. Having witnessed the execution of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Florida's death chamber and covering other high profile cases, Frederick has appeared on national crime documentary shows on Discovery ID, Reelz, and the Oxygen Network series "Snapped" for his analysis. • Award-Winning Journalism: Florida Press Club recognizes Headline Surfer for nine stories in 2020 statewide competition. • Award-Winning Journalism of Henry Frederick.

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