By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL/Designated Writers

It takes a couple of days to sink in, but Atlanta’s World Series has give me one stark realization — I may never see one of my teams ever win another a championship in my lifetime. And that’s fine, as I begin inching toward the fourth quarter, I realize that you really, really need to enjoy them.

Guys like me pretty much live their sports life through four teams — their favorites in MLB, NFL, NBA and college. And if the Green Bay Packers win another Super Bowl like they did in the 2010 season, I’ll be happy. But not like this.

What really impacted me as the Braves closed out the Astros in Game 6 is just how hard it is to win it all. All sports have minefields along the way, but there is no grind quite like baseball. A season that lasts six months and then three playoff series. Every game, every inning, every pitch is a potential trouble spot.

It’s not until you get clear of it all that you can look back and see just how tough it was to pull it off.

They say that you are more upset after a championship loss than you are happy after a championship win and to some degree that’s true. But for me, not in this case. Having won three straight NL East titles, the Braves opened the season as a potential World Series team, but things quickly went south. They started by losing games (the first four), then started losing players. The best pitcher re-tore his Achilles. The cleanup hitter broke his hand and then broke the law (allegedly). The catcher tore ligaments in his thumb. Then the best player in the National League blew his knee out on the warning track in Miami.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the bottom of the standings. As it turned out, nobody in the division was any good. The New York Mets were in first place, but only because someone had to be. The Braves should have packed it in, but it’s as if the baseball gods wouldn’t let them.

And somebody else wouldn’t let them – GM Alex Anthopoulos. Five days after potential MVP Ronald Acuna was lost for the year with a knee injury, Anthopoulos did something that surprised quite a few baseball people.

He went for it.

He made a thought-to-be-insignificant trade for Chicago’s Joc Pederson, even though the Braves didn’t have a winning revord and were five games out of first place.

Some GMs like to show everyone how smart they are and give up on a season before the trading deadline so they can (1) justify their existence and/or (2) make a bunch of trades to “secure the future.” But his move sent a signal to the team that he wasn’t giving up on the 2021 season and they shouldn’t either.

In the course of almost every team’s season, there is a time in which they get hot for no reason. That was the Braves in August, winning 16 of 18 and zoomed to the top of the standings, partially because nobody else in the NL East wanted to.

Having watched this team all year — I saw all or part of probably 140 games — you begin to develop certain emotions for various people on the team. Ozzie Albies and his ever-present smile. Dansby Swanson, the former No. 1 overall pick and Atlanta native who just kept getting better. Austin Riley, who turned into an MVP candidate at age 24.

But the two people to be happiest for are obvious — Freddie Freeman and manager Brian Snitker.

Freeman is the heart and soul of the team and if there is another body part that needs to be mentioned then he’s that too. His story is well chronicled, but even if you can’t stand the Atlanta Braves, it’s almost impossible to not like Freddie Freeman. (And if you don’t like him, I challenge you to read the backstory on him.) EVERY team in the major leagues wishes they had a player like Freddie Freeman.

And then there is Snitker, who the Braves organization didn’t even want to be their manager until the players stepped in five years ago. He had been with the Braves for 39 years and been demoted more than once by the organization before being named interim manager in 2016 as the team was at one of its lowest points. Ownership looked at other candidates before they had the common sense to talk to the players and find out the man they were looking for was already right there in front of them.

Snitker is a player’s manager. Freeman is a player’s player.

They make it really easy for people like me to pull for them. And really easy to be proud for them when they win the World Series.

By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL/Designated Writers

The first College Football Playoff rankings are out and we should all expect the world to stop spinning on its axis. Here’s what the committee decided would be be going down if the season ended today.

(Quick note — the season doesn’t end today, so all the wailing and gnashing of teeth is absolutely, 100 percent pointless. So go ahead and over-analyze it all you want; nobody is going to remember these in two weeks, much less in December,)

1.Georgia: Next.

2. Alabama: No way the exact same team with the exact same resume is ranked No. 2. They lost to unranked Texas A&M and didn’t really look that good doing it. The big wins are over Miami and Florida, neither of which looks that good right now. Top four is a coin flip; top two is based on history. Shouldn’t be.

3. Michigan State: Flavor of the Week. The Spartans beat Nebraska by three. At home. Not 1995 Nebraska; this Nebraska. They do close with Ohio State and Penn State, so we shall see.

4. Oregon: You always hear about how teams that “have the best win” so if that truly means something, then the Ducks have the best win of anybody this year. They went to Oho State and dominated the Buckeyes and did it without their best player (defensive lineman Kayvon Thibodeaux). There is a loss on the road at Stanford that is a mark against the Ducks, but as long as they are ahead of Ohio State, I’m OK with it.

5. Ohio State: They have dominated everyone they have played since Oregon, but that’s still going to be a roadblock untill proven differently.

6. Cincinnati: Well, well, well … look what we have here. So much will be read into this, but just leave it alone. Now, if teams start jumping them, then that’s a different story. I get what the committee is thinking – do you really think the Bearcats would beat any of the five teams above them?

7. Michigan: I understand that the analytics bear this out, but they also only beat Nebraska by three and in the Jim Harbaugh Era, the Wolverines are 2-13 against Top 10 teams. If history matters for Alabama and Ohio State, why doesn’t it matter here?

8. Oklahoma: I think this is too low. I know they haven’t looked great in a few games and I’m not saying they should be in the top four, but the Sooner are dangerous, especially with freshman Caleb Williams now at quarterback.

9. Wake Forest: Never fall in love with a team that scores a lot of points. It might also be a good idea to never fall in love with a team from the ACC this year. The Deacons are a cute story and they’ve beaten exactly zero ranked teams.

10. Notre Dame: Nothing the Irish have done this year would give you any indication that they are Final Four worthy. Top 10 is a stretch, but they’ve got to put somebody there.