1996 National League Championship Series

The Braves would go on to lose to the New York Yankees in the World Series in six games.

Atlanta won the series, 4–3.

Wednesday, October 9, 1996, at

Game 1 was played in Atlanta with 24-game winner

The Braves struck first in Game 3 when Marquis Grissom singled to lead off the first, moved to second on a groundout, then to third on a wild pitch by Donovan Osborne before scoring on Chipper Jones's sacrifice fly, but in the bottom of the inning, Royce Clayton singled and Ron Gant's two-run home run off former teammate Tom Glavine put the Cardinals up 2–1. He also homered in the sixth off Glavine for the Cardinals' other run. The Braves loaded the bases with no outs on three straight singles off Osborne and Mark Petkovsek in the seventh, but scored only once on a Jermaine Dye sacrifice fly. They went quietly in the ninth to Dennis Eckersley, who earned a save, as St. Louis took a 2-1 series lead.

Sunday, October 13, 1996, at

Needing the win to help stave off an upset, the Braves struck first on a

With their backs to the wall, the defending champion Braves struck back with a vengeance. The Braves knocked Cardinals starter Todd Stottlemyre out of the game early. In the first, Marquis Grissom hit a leadoff single followed by a Mark Lemke double before both scored on Chipper Jones's double. Jones then scored on Fred McGriff's single. Two outs later, Jermaine Dye singled before Jeff Blauser's two-run triple made it 5–0 Braves. Leading off the next inning, three consecutive singles made it 6–0 Braves and knocked Stottlemyre out of the game. Danny Jackson in relief allowed a two-out RBI single to Ryan Klesko. In the fourth with two on and two outs, consecutive RBI singles by John Smoltz, Grissom, and Lemke made it 10–0 Braves. Javy López's two-out home run next inning off Tony Fossas made it 11–0 Braves. In the eighth, Lopez doubled with one out and scored on Rafael Belliard's two-out single off Mark Petkovsek. Fred McGriff's two-run home run in the ninth off Rick Honeycutt made it 14–0 Braves. Behind 24-game winner John Smoltz and 22 hits (an LCS record), the Braves forced the series to return to Atlanta with Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium still scheduled for demolition over the fall and winter.

Wednesday, October 16, 1996, at

After his rattling defeat in Game 2, Greg Maddux stepped up in Game 6 and outdueled Cardinals starter Alan Benes to keep Atlanta's comeback hopes alive. While Maddux mowed down the Cardinals, with some help from a great catch by center fielder Marquis Grissom, the Braves struck first in the second on Jermaine Dye's sacrifice fly with runners on second and third. In the fifth, Jeff Blauser was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a groundout and scored on Mark Lemke's single. Those would be the only runs Benes allowed in five solid innings, but was given very little support. A wild pitch by Mark Wohlers allowed Royce Clayton to score from third led to the Cardinals' only run of the game in the eighth with the run charged to Maddux, but the Braves got the run back in the bottom half on Rafael Belliard's RBI single off Todd Stottlemyre. Wohlers pitched a perfect ninth inning to earn the save, finish off the Cardinals, and to extend the Championship Series to its seventh game.

Thursday, October 17, 1996, at

The Braves clinched the NLCS with a blowout Game 7 win. In the first with runners on second and third and one out off Donovan Osborne, Fred McGriff hit into a fielder's choice to score the first run of the game. After a walk, consecutive RBI singles by Jermaine Dye and Andruw Jones made it 3–0 Braves. After Jeff Blauser was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Tom Glavine cleared them with a triple, knocking Osborne out of the game after less than an inning while Glavine pitched seven shutout innings, allowing only three hits. In the fourth, the Cardinals game 1 and 4 starter, Andy Benes, walked two straight batters with one out before McGriff drove them both in with a single aided by an error, then Javy López's home run made it 10–0 Braves. McGriff tripled to lead off the sixth off Mark Petkovsek, then scored on Lopez's double before Jones's one-out two run home run made it 13–0 Braves. McGriff's two-run home run in the seventh off Rick Honeycutt capped the scoring at 15–0 Braves. Mike Bielecki and Steve Avery pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings, respectively as the Braves advanced to the World Series for the second straight year.

Javy López was named the MVP for having a role in each Atlanta victory. In Game 1, he snapped a 2–2 tie with a two-run single; in Game 5, he hit a home run, two doubles, and scored four runs; in Game 6, he singled and scored after being hit by a pitch; and in Game 7, he went two for four with a double, a home run, three RBIs, and scored three runs. Overall, he batted a torrid .545 (13 for 24) with eight runs scored, five doubles, two home runs and six RBIs in the Championship Series.

1996 NLCS (4–3): Atlanta Braves over St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals were outscored 32-1 from Games 5-7. The Braves +26 run differential for the entire series was the second largest in a postseason series.^[8]

To date, Game 7 is the last time the Braves have won a winner-take-all postseason game. They have since lost six straight such games since with the

After a bitter feud between

John Smoltz would later end his Hall of Fame career with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2009.

The two teams met again three other times since 1996 in the postseason — during the 2000 National League Division Series, 2012 National League Wild Card Game, and 2019 National League Division Series — with the Cardinals winning all three match-ups. The Cardinals would avenge their 1996 Game 7 blowout loss against the Braves by returning the favor and blowing out the Braves by 12 runs in the decisive Game 5 of the 2019 NLDS. This was highlighted by a ten run first inning, which set a Major League Baseball record for first-inning runs in a postseason game, and tied the Major League Baseball record for the most runs in any inning in a postseason game (coincidentally, these records would be surpassed again against the Braves by the Dodgers in Game 3 of the 2020 NLCS with an 11-run first inning).^[12]

• 1996 NLCS at Baseball Reference