The Braves won the National League West for the first time since 1969 but were swept in three games by the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS.
In 2014, Bobby Cox and Joe Torre were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame as two of the most successful managers of the late-20th and early-21st centuries.
The New York Mets fired Torre on October 5, 1981; the Braves dismissed Cox three days later.
In both 1978 and 1979, Cox's Braves and Torre's Mets had each finished in the cellar of their respective National League divisions.
Cox, then 40 years old, landed on his feet as manager of the American League Toronto Blue Jays—then a struggling expansion team in its fifth year of existence—on October 15, 1981; nine days later, Torre, 41, was announced as Cox's successor in Atlanta, returning to the team where he had become an All-Star catcher during the 1960s.
In different ways, the firings and hirings marked positive turning points in each man's career.
Torre's 1982 Braves won their first 13 regular-season games en route to the National League West Division title, their first since 1969.
Finally, in 1985, they captured 99 victories to win the American League East Division by a two-game margin over the Yankees.
Some critics claimed the Braves were just living off the feat of their 13-game winning streak and that they were not as good as their record showed.
Next, the Braves slowed down again, and they slipped to a 43–29 (.597) record on June 29, but then they reeled off another six-game winning streak to build up a 4+1⁄2 game lead in the National League Western Division on July 5.
That meant the Braves were setting pace to win 100 games for the season, which is a traditional mark for a very good team in either league.
On the two days right before the All-Star Game, the Braves lost to the Pirates 6–1 and 3–1, but they were still on the top of the Western Division by two-games in the standings.
The Braves started the second half of the 1982 season following the All-Star break with five wins versus only one loss in their first six games.
Rick Camp, a part-time starter, was 8–4 with a 3.14 ERA This big lead in the Western Division did not last for long.
During that stretch of 21 games against just the Dodgers, the Giants, the Padres, and the Montreal Expos, the Braves seemed to be moving in slow motion both on the pitcher's mound and in the batting boxes as they slumped badly and lost 19 out of 21 games – including an 11-game losing steak and four-game losing streaks twice.
On August 18, the Braves lost their third game in a row to the Expos, completing another four-game losing streak, and their won-loss record had fallen to 63–56 (.529).
The Braves lost eight out of 12 games, including six losses to a different nemesis this time, the Houston Astros.
However, late in that game in San Francisco, former Cincinnati Reds' second baseman Joe Morgan hit a home run against the Dodgers to knock them out of the playoffs.
Phil Niekro finished the season as the pitching star of the Braves with a 17–4 record, and Dale Murphy won the National League Most Valuable Player trophy by winning the league championship in home runs, tying for the championship in RBIs, and winning a Gold Glove in the outfield.
The Braves had won their second Western Division title, and they were bound for the National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The twenty-four-year-old second base-shortstop duo of Glenn Hubbard and Rafael Ramírez proved to be stellar on defense, and steady on offense – often getting on base ahead of Murphy and Horner.
The Braves's regular catcher Bruce Benedict batted .248 with just three home runs – one of them a grand slam that he hit of the great Dodger pitcher Fernando Valenzuela in a game during September.
What the Braves lacked in their position players in 1982 were the following: Phil Niekro was the ace of Atlanta's pitching staff and led the team with a 17-4 win–loss record and a 3.61 ERA in 35 starts.
Gene Garber led the team with 30 saves in 69 games, allowing just four home runs with a 2.34 ERA in 119+1⁄3 innings pitched.
Beyond Niekro, the Braves' starting pitching was extremely thin, and it caused a lot of problems.
Besides Niekro, the best thing that Torre had for his job of running a pitching staff made of bubble gum and bailing wire was his outstanding relief duo of Garber and Bedrosian.
In Bedrosian, Torre had a future Cy Young Award Winner, but with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Infielders Other batters Coaches Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg.