Let's Road Trip Cubs 2025: Trip #13 - Hotlanta or Bust

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In early September, the Cubs face the Braves six times in 10 days. This time, Chicago has to make the long journey to Truist Park in what could be the hottest and muggiest games of the season. Will the trip be worth it? Let’s discuss.

Image courtesy of Truist Park (@TruistPark) on X/Twitter

Atlanta Braves – April 18-20
Truist Park - Capacity 41,084
2024 Attendance: 3,011,765 (Averaged 37,647 - ranked 4th out of 15 NL teams, 5th overall MLB)

When the Cubs traveled to Atlanta in May 2024, they both entered the series with winning records. Atlanta shut out the Cubs in the first two games, before Chicago erupted for seven runs to take the finale.

Things started off promising when the Cubs made their first ever road trip to Truist Park in 2017, as they came away with a three-game sweep and went on to win two of three in 2018 as well. Since then, the journey has not been good to the Cubbies. Chicago has only won three times in Atlanta since 2019, and they have lost 13 games. Overall, the record shows Cubs 8, Braves 14, but the vibe of late is much more sour.

Baseball arrived in Atlanta from Milwaukee in 1966, but the national audience for the Braves arrived with TBS. Even a kid in the middle-of-nowhere South Dakota could watch the Braves, and this made their runs in the 1990's must-see TV. The Atlanta Fulton County Stadium we watched in 1991 made way for Turner Field (aka. Olympic Stadium) in 1997. The Braves' most recent move in 2017 took them to the suburbs, to mixed reviews. On the one hand, the Braves got a chance to build a baseball community center with neighborhood revenue-gathering machines. On the other hand, folks now need cars and cash to get to the games.

Truist Park resides in a mixed-use entertainment district called “The Battery.” Designed to curate the entire baseball consumer’s experience, it's arguably the wave of the future (see also: Globe Life Field in Texas). The park is clean and modern in stadium style, with Hank Aaron tributes and historic moment monuments scattered throughout. “The Freeze” race between innings also looks intriguing.

Atlanta boasts the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, MLK Jr. National Historical Park, and the Center for Puppetry Arts. I would steer clear of the puppets, but to each their own. The airport serves as a major hub, so travel to and from Atlanta shouldn't be hard, but travel to and from the ballpark will probably require renting a car or a large amount of Uber money.

After this one-stop trip, the Cubs return home for another one-series event to face the AL East’s Tampa Bay Rays. The games are running out, and everything is magnified. How will the Cubs endure this short but vicious road trip?

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