The Braves have now won 13 consecutive divisional championships, dating back to 1991 (the 1994 strike year is not included).

When you think of super-successful sports organizations, great teams like the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Oakland Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers, Colorado Avalanche and Montreal Canadiens come to mind. But none of those teams ever won 13 straight divisional titles -- though some of them did come very close.

The great Lakers teams of the 1980s won nine straight NBA Western Conference Pacific Division titles from 1981-82 through 1989-90.

The Boston Celtics also won nine consecutive NBA division titles from 1956-57 to 1964-65.

The NHL's Colorado Avalanche won nine straight division titles from 1994-95 to 2002-03, breaking the record of the Montreal Canadiens, who won eight Norris Division titles from 1974-75 to 1981-82.

The Big Red Machine of the 1970s captured six overall Western Division titles, but never more than two in a row (1970, '72, '73, '75, '76, '79).

Of course, the New York Yankees have achieved what is believed to be the greatest overall record of success of any team in pro sports. From 1947 to 1964, the Bronx Bombers won 15 out of 18 divisional titles (including 10 World Series). But the Yanks never won more than five straight division titles during that era.

The mighty NFL Oakland Raiders had four first places in the AFC West Division from 1967-70, but snapped the streak by finishing second in 1971. The Raiders then quickly rebounded and went on to win five more consecutive division titles through 1976. Then, in 1977 and 1978, the Raiders finished in second place. But overall, though not quite Brave-esque, the Silver & Black had quite a run of success --- finishing in first or second place for 12 straight seasons.

The Pittsburgh Steelers won six straight AFC Central titles from 1974-79, which included four Super Bowl titles.

The Green Bay Packers won division titles from 1960-62 and 1965-67, and NFL championships in 1961-62, and 1965-67.

Other notable records of domination in pro sports include tennis great Pete Sampras, who finished at No. 1 in the world in the ATP tennis rankings for six years in a row from 1993-98.

Pro golfer Tiger Woods was ranked No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking for 334 consecutive weeks, ceding the spot only recently to Vijay Singh.

Formula 1 champion racer Michael Schumacher has had quite a run, this year clinching his fifth straight F1 championship.

Current middleweight boxing champion Bernard Hopkins, who has won a record 19 straight title defenses dating back to 1995. His most recent victim was Oscar de la Hoya on Sept. 18.

Former heavyweight champ Joe Louis made 25 successful title defenses from 1937-48.

NASCAR's Jeff Gordon and Richard Petty hold the modern-era season record of winning 13 races in a single season. Gordon and Petty also share the consecutive wins-in-a-row streak with four each (also achieved by Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Harry Gant, Bill Elliott and Mark Martin).

A-Rod homer upheld by instant replay

By FRED GOODALL, AP Sports Writer Sep 4, 2008, 12:36 am EDT

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP)—Alex Rodriguez made major league history by agreeing with an umpire.

The New York Yankees third baseman, a lightning rod for headlines on and off the field throughout his career, saw his ninth-inning home run Wednesday night the same way as third base umpire Brian Runge. So did baseball’s instant replay system.

Rodriguez’s long blast down the left field line was upheld in baseball’s first use of video to review boundary calls, and the Yankees beat the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays 8-4.

“I’m the first player. Next time I’m going stealth and go under the radar screen,” Rodriguez said. “It’s very fitting I’m involved. I was just glad we got the right call.”

Rodriguez, who went 3-for-4 and drove in four runs, hit a towering two-run shot off Troy Percival that Runge immediately ruled a homer when it bounced off the catwalk behind the foul pole in left field.

Rays catcher Dioner Navarro protested, bringing manager Joe Maddon out of the dugout. After convening, the umpires left the field to review the video, a process that took 2 minutes, 15 seconds to back the onfield call.

Rodriguez was denied a homer May 21 against Baltimore when a ball he hit over the fence at Yankee Stadium was incorrectly called an RBI double.

It was one of a string of home run calls blown by umpires, leaving some calling for instant replay.

“I had the best view because I was at home plate. I saw what Brian saw, and for sure I knew this was going to get replayed,” Rodriguez said of his 549th career homer that moved him ahead of Mike Schmidt for sole possession of 12th place on the all-time list. “I saw the way Navarro jumped and then Maddon jumped out of the dugout and I said, ‘Here we go.”’

Umpire crew chief Charlie Reliford said Maddon asked plate umpire Greg Gibson to discuss the call with Runge.

“We all believed it was a home run, but since the technology is in place we made the decision to use the technology and go look at the replays,” Reliford told a pool reporter, adding that the umpires watched the video several times.

“If there had been no argument, obviously we wouldn’t have because all four of us believed the call was correct on the field,” Reliford said. “Because he disputed it, and it was very close, and now the technology is in place, we used it.”

Percival had no beef with Runge’s call.

“I thought it was clearly fair, but after looking at the replay, I wouldn’t have known what to call, to be honest with you,” Percival said. “The replay made it more cloudy for me.”

But Reliford said the process, which was put in place last Thursday, worked “exactly like they trained us it would go,” adding it was a group decision.

“Technically, it’s up to the crew chief. But when the ship sinks, everyone drowns. We operate as a crew, we do everything as a crew, and we make decisions as a crew,” Reliford said. “If it comes down to a split decision, then the crew chief is going to have to decide which decision is most likely correct.”

Boston, which beat Baltimore 5-4 on Wednesday, moved within three games of Tampa Bay in the division.

Edwar Ramirez (5-1) worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam after Carl Pavano ran into trouble in the fifth. He was the winner despite facing only three batters as the Yankees won a series against a team .500 or better for the first time since winning two of three against Boston July 25-27.

Rodriguez, who has two homers and nine RBIs in the first three games of 10-game, four-city road trip, had a run-scoring double in the third off Edwin Jackson (11-9) and a RBI single in the fourth against Chad Bradford.

Robinson Cano, Ivan Rodriguez and Jason Giambi had RBI doubles off Jackson, who lasted 3 1-3 innings.

The Rays, who had one hit after the fifth inning, lost a series for the first time since the All-Star break.

It was only the third time since the break that Tampa Bay lost consecutive games. The Rays had been 12-0-1 in series since losing a season-high seven straight games from July 7-13 to turn a five-game lead over the Red Sox into a half-game deficit.

While the Rays weren’t charged with any errors Wednesday night, sloppy defense contributed to four infield singles and helped the Yankees advance baserunners at will on hits to the outfield.

In losing the series opener 7-2 on Tuesday night, the Rays ran themselves out of a potential big inning and committed a throwing error that helped New York break the game open after Xavier Nady hit a two-run homer.

The Yankees built a 6-1 lead for Pavano. The right-hander, making his third start since returning from elbow surgery that sidelined him for more than a year, couldn’t get through the five innings required to get the win.

B.J. Upton singled and Carlos Pena walked to begin the fifth against Pavano, who was replaced by Ramirez with New York leading 6-3. Cliff Floyd lined a single off second baseman Cano’s glove to load the bases with no outs.

The Yankees escaped unscathed when Willy Aybar lined into a double play to Cano, who stepped on second before Pena could get back to the bag. Eric Hinske popped to Derek Jeter, ending the threat.

The Rays scored on Floyd’s first-inning RBI double and Gabe Gross’ two-run homer in the fourth as Pavano allowed six hits, walked two and struck out one in four-plus innings—his shortest outing since coming off the DL. Akinori Iwamura added an RBI double off Jose Veras in the ninth.

Jackson, who had won six of his previous seven decisions, allowed six runs and 10 hits in his shortest start of the season. Four of the hits were infield singles, and two of the five doubles he yielded would have been singles if Bobby Abreu and Ivan Rodriguez hadn’t been aggressive in taking an extra base.

As Turner Sports begins to enter its new era of programming, the company has learned that it will be doing so without Don Sutton.

With the 2007 season being the final one in which TBS will carry the Braves to a national audience, it was no longer prudent for Turner Sports to provide Sutton a salary that was comparable to the one he's had the past few years.

Hoping to secure his services for the postseason coverage it will start providing next year, Turner made him an offer that he immediately rejected.

"We think Don is an excellent analyst and we offered him a postseason package that he rejected," Turner Sports spokesman Jeff Pomeroy said.

Sutton, who had broadcast Braves games since 1989, will now look to join another broadcast team. There's a belief that he'd like to hook on with the Padres, Angels or Dodgers. The Hall of Fame pitcher owns a home in Palm Springs, Calif.

With TBS carrying just 70 Braves games nationally next year, Turner Sports never offered Sutton a chance to return as a Braves analyst. Instead, it believes their broadcast team will consist of Chip Caray, Skip Caray, Pete Van Wieren and Joe Simpson.

Chip Caray and Van Wieren are already under contract. Skip Caray and Simpson have been offered contracts that they are expected to accept.

Beginning in 2008 and running through 2013, TBS' national baseball coverage will consist soley of 26 Sunday afternoon broadcasts that could include matchups between any Major League Baseball teams.

WTBS, the channel's local Atlanta feed, will carry at least 45 games per season from 2008-2013. These games also could be carried on TBS in the club's six-state home territory, which includes Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee.

Beginning this year and extending through the life of the agreement, TBS has exclusive broadcasting rights to all tiebreaker games needed to determine division winners or Wild Card entrants. Next year, it will begin carrying the All-Star Game selection show.

The jewel of this broadcasting agreement, which was completed in July, gives Turner Sports the exclusive rights to carry all of the Division Series games for each of the next seven seasons.

Mark Bowman is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.