Braves and Panthers fan here. First post.
Braves postseason defeats during the streak in reverse order of painfulness:
13. 2001 to Diamondbacks in NLCS We almost blew the NL East after the break for 9/11 in a year we definitely overachieved. We weren't supposed to beat the Astros and we didn't stand a chance against Schilling and Johnson in the NLCS even in a best-of-7.
12. 2004 to Astros in NLDS We tanked in the NLDS but we did great just to get there. If I recall correctly, this was the year they acquired Beltran and took off.
11. 2005 to Astros in NLDS. Same as 2004 but a bit more painful because of the way we lost the deciding Game 4. Almost missed a Panthers game in Arizona (on a rare Sunday off work at that time) all because of Kyle Farnsworthless and we lost in 18 innings, bless Joey Devine's heart. On a side note, Farnsworth became one of my all-time enemies when he said he didn't like where the Braves were going and signed with the Yankees.
10. 1999 to Yankees. Sure we were swept, but was there any doubt who was the better team?
9. 2000 to Cardinals. Chipper's error against the Rockies leads to John Rocker giving up a game-winning HR that gave home-field advantage to the Cardinals in the NLDS. We never recovered. Maddux and Glavine were torched in Game 1 and 2, Millwood in Game 3. We so would have beaten the Mets in the NLCS. Only now has Mike Hampton come close to the dominance for us that he showed that postseason. That was my "postseason from hell"--the Subway Series between the Yankees and Mets, I watched very little of it.
8. 1998 vs. Padres. We clearly choked in this series, but were we really going to beat the Yankees that year?
7. 2003 vs. Cubs. We were stuck with Kerry Wood and Mark Prior in their primes and once again Sheff couldn't hit his way out of a paper bag in the playoffs after lighting it up in the regular season.
6. 2002 vs. Giants. This was the first time that we were clearly upset in the Division Series and I felt we had a great chance at the World Series with Sheff on board. But Glavine bombed in Game 1 and then in again in Game 4 on short rest. For some reason, Maddux was moved to Game 3, only giving him one start. If Maddux had gotten two starts, we might have won the series. I would've loved our chances vs. the Cardinals, though I don't know if we could have taken the Angels with the Rally Monkey and all...
5. 1993 vs. Phillies. The pennant race against the Giants took a lot of steam out of us, but Lenny Dykstra's HR in one of the games in Atlanta gave the Phillies all the momentum for the rest of the series. This was the first year with Maddux, to boot.
4. 1992 vs. Blue Jays. Ed Sprague. 'Nuff said.
3. 1991 vs. Twins. Lonnie Smith's famous baserunning blunder, Kent Hrbek pushing Greg Olson off the bag, and Charlie freakin Leibrant cost us that series against the Homer Hankies. Thank god the Twins are moving outdoors in 2010.
2. 1997 vs. Marlins. Eric Gregg. 'Nuff said.
For the Braves, the most painful playoff loss was easily Game 4 of the 1996 World Series. After FINALLY winning a championship in 1995 (I was lucky enough to be at the clinching game) after falling short in '91, '92, and '93, we looked poised to win two World Series in a row. We came back from 3-1 down to beat the Cardinals in the NLCS as our bats exploded. That carried over to Games 1 and 2 of the World Series...AT YANKEE STADIUM!!! We lost Game 3, but hey, just one game, we led 6-0 in Game 4...and then Jim Leyritz hit the blast that broke the Braves' hearts. I officially became a Yankee hater. Not only did that Leyritz HR change the whole series, Mark Wohlers was never the same after that, and it changed the course of Braves history. Despite winning 14 division titles, we would only return to one more World Series. (a 4-0 sweep by the Yankees in 1999, which was also painful, but not nearly as bad with the solace that they were probably the better team). Then during the 2000's, we only got out of the Division Series once, and now we are back to mediocrity.
The 2008 season was more painful than any of these postseason losses...season ending injuries to John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, AND Tim Hudson, plus we didn't get a healthy Hampton until August, Skip Caray passing away, plus a whole smorgasboard of other injuries to key players. I was extremely miffed when Hank Steinbrenner said he had never seen a team suffer as many injuries as his Yankees did. I beg to differ. Hopefully we will rise up again in '09...let's PLEASE get Peavy, we are his first choice.
All of these playoff losses were painful, but you have to admire the job Schuerholz and Cox did JUST TO GET THERE! No one will ever come close to 14 straight division titles. I thought the Yankees might, but fortunately the Red Sox stopped that last year, so our record is safe.