HOUSTON－Most of the season, it just seemed this wasn't their year.

They dropped their first four games, and soon injuries piled up. They lost their most dynamic player before the All-Star break. They were stuck below.500 in August.

Yet out of nowhere, suddenly, these Atlanta Braves transformed themselves and took off.

Jorge Soler, Freddie Freeman and the Braves breezed to their first World Series championship since 1995, hammering the Houston Astros 7-0 on Tuesday night in Game 6.

"We hit every problem, every bump you could possibly hit this year," Freeman said. "Injuries, every single kind of thing that could have happened, that could go wrong, went wrong, and we overcame every single one of those things."

Max Fried threw six dominant innings in the signature pitching performance of the Series. Soler, a July acquisition who tested positive for COVID-19 in the playoffs, backed him early with a monster three-run shot for his third homer against the Astros.

Freeman hit an RBI double and then punctuated the romp with a solo home run in the seventh that made it 7-0.

By then, it was a total team effort. Ailing star Ronald Acuna Jr., the dynamo of Atlanta's future, bounded from the dugout to join the celebrations with Freeman, the longtime face of the franchise.

A mere afterthought in the summer heat among the land of the Giants, White Sox and Dodgers, but magnificent in the Fall Classic.

Soler tapped his heart twice before beginning his home-run trot after connecting off rookie Luis Garcia in the third inning, sending the ball flying completely out of Minute Maid Park and clinching the Series MVP award.

Dansby Swanson also homered, and by the final out nothing could stop them. Not a broken leg sustained by starter Charlie Morton in the World Series opener. Not a big blown lead in Game 5.

Steadied by 66-year-old manager Brian Snitker, an organization man for four decades, the underdog Braves won the franchise's fourth title.

"They never gave up on themselves," he said on a postgame victory platform. "We lost a lot of pieces over the course of the summer and it was just the next man up."

Consider it a tribute to the greatest Braves player of them all, Hank Aaron. The Hall of Fame slugger died Jan 22 at 86, still rooting for his old team, and his legacy was stamped all over this Series.

And note the Braves out-homered the top-scoring team in the majors by 11-2.

For 72-year-old Houston manager Dusty Baker, a disappointment. But for many fans rooting against the Astros in the wake of their 2017 sign-stealing scandal, some satisfaction.

"Yeah, it's tough, but you know something? You've got to keep on trucking, and that gives you even more incentive next year," Baker said.

"It's tough to take now, but this too shall pass. I mean, it really hurts, but it's over," he added.

Major credit for the Braves, too, goes to general manager Alex Anthopoulos. Undaunted by Acuna's knee injury, he pulled off a flurry of July trades that brought the 'Fab Four' to the outfield－NL Series MVP Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall, Joc Pederson and Soler.

But even in the Analytics Era, the path these Braves took wouldn't add up in any computer. Especially with how things looked in midseason.

"At that time, we were searching," third baseman Austin Riley said before Game 6. "I think there's no question about that."

Minus Acuna, Atlanta wasn't over.500 for a single day until the first week in August. The Braves finished 88-73 for the 12th-best record in the majors and fewest victories among playoff teams; their win total was the lowest for a World Series champion since St. Louis' 83 in 2006.

Plus, some agonizing history in Atlanta, a city where no team had won a title in North America's four major pro sports besides 1995.

The Braves couldn't convert a 3-1 series advantage over the Dodgers in the NLCS last year. The Hawks fell short in the Eastern Conference finals last season. And then there was the big one, the Falcons blowing a 28-3 lead to the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

But not this time for these Braves, who lost Acuna, Marcell Ozuna and Mike Soroka to injuries.

Going into the playoffs, their bullpen was a crazy patchwork.

They had a guy who made his big-league debut in October, a lefty who was pitching in 2019 in a now-defunct independent league and a righty who was stacking boxes at an appliance warehouse a decade ago.

For sure, plenty of fans around the country were rooting hard against Jose Altuve and the Houston crew. Many continue to heckle them as the "Cheatin' Astros" for an illegal sign-stealing scheme on the way to their 2017 title, and those feelings might last forever.

Certainly a lot of people were cheering for Baker. A World Series winner as a player and a highly respected figure on and off the field.

The Braves' Truist Park was packed and the outside plazas were jammed over the weekend, while pulsating crowds filled Minute Maid Park, the Astros' home.

Quite a change from last October when, due to the pandemic, only a limited capacity was permitted for that World Series as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Tampa Bay Rays at a neutral-site stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Agencies Via Xinhua