After severe MLB penalties, Atlanta has become a model franchise

Just three years ago, after yet another losing season, Atlanta was in a state of scandal-induced, MLB-enforced chaos.

Their general manager, John Coppolella, resigned amid the league’s investigation into the team’s conduct on the international amateur player market. Upon completing the probe, MLB gave Coppolella — then just 38 years old — a lifetime ban, suspended one of his top lieutenants for a year, declared 13 prospects free agents and placed severe, suffocating restrictions on Atlanta’s international spending in the coming years.

The international market for young players, especially in Latin America, was and is considered baseball’s wild west. Corruption is common. MLB wanted to make an example of Atlanta and its former GM.

And then a funny thing happened: Under the pressure of penalties, Atlanta became a diamond. Led by president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos, it has turned into one of the sport’s model franchises and has found nothing but success, including taking a 3-2 series lead into Saturday's Game 6 of the NLCS against the Dodgers.

Atlanta’s success starts at the top with Anthopoulos, who wasn’t the kind of Ivy League-educated, analytics-groomed baseball operations boss so many teams seek these days. He had a scouting background, had already run a team — the Blue Jays from 2009-15, getting the club to the ALCS in his last season — and had been working for the Dodgers. He recently characterized that experience as "like going to grad school."

"Alex is a man of integrity and he will operate in a way that will make all of our fans proud," Atlanta team chairman Terry McGuirk said upon hiring Anthopoulos, adding that the preceding months were "the toughest in the storied history" of the franchise.

In the context of Coppolella and the scandal, the juxtaposition McGuirk sought was obvious. But beyond morals and virtues, Anthopoulos has given fans another reason to be proud: The team is a winner.

Three consecutive NL East titles. A .578 winning percentage — good for more than 93 wins in a 162-game season. A player development machine, started during the Coppolella era, churning out significant contributors every year. And a bulked-up analytics department that aids in most every aspect of the operation.

Atlanta seems not to be going anywhere, either. That could mean trouble for the rest of the division — including Steve Cohen’s Mets and the rebuilding Marlins who surprisingly made it to the playoffs this year — and league.

Freddie Freeman, the likeable face of the franchise, is Atlanta’s longest-tenured player. Ronald Acuna Jr. and Ozzie Albies are young, electric, homegrown stars who already have signed long-term, team-friendly deals. Then there are the young starters, Cy Young candidate Max Fried and Ian Anderson and Kyle Wright — not to mention Mike Soroka, who missed most of this season due to an Achillies injury but in 2019 was one of the best pitchers not named Jacob deGrom and best rookies not named Pete Alonso.

Mix in Atlanta’s propensity for plucking the right short-term free agents off the market — Travis d’Arnaud and Marcell Ozuna this year, Josh Donaldson last year — and the touted prospects still to come, and Atlanta seems set up well for more success.

It might only be a matter of time until teams start looking at Atlanta’s other top executives, including assistant GMs Perry Minasian and Jason Pare, for future openings.

"Since he joined the organization," McGuirk said in February, after finalizing Anthopoulos’ contract extension through the 2024 season, "Alex has continued the winning tradition that [our] fans have come to expect."