Atlanta ? Ninety-five years of frustration. Ninety-five years of ridicule. Put it all to rest. The Chicago Cubs are postseason winners.

Kerry Wood pitched another dominating game, and Aramis Ramirez began the celebration with a mammoth home run, pushing the Cubs past Atlanta, 5-1, in the decisive Game 5 Sunday night for their first postseason series victory since the 1908 World Series.

The franchise that endured the College of Coaches and the curse of a goat moves on to play Florida in the NL championship series. Game 1 is Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.

“We heard a lot of negatives from people, and they have reason to be negative,” first-year manager Dusty Baker said. “They haven’t had any reasons to be positive for a long time.”

They do now. When Andruw Jones struck out swinging on the final pitch, flashbulbs went off around the stadium. Catcher Damian Miller threw his arms in the air, then charged the mound to embrace closer Joe Borowski. Sammy Sosa tore across the grass to high-five his fellow outfielders. Wood, sitting in the dugout, pumped his fist before heading to the field to join the celebration.

In the stands, Chicago’s fans shouted, hugged and derisively performed the “Tomahawk Chop” — the Braves’ signature cheer.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Sosa, who endured a beaning, injured toe and that infamous corked bat in 2003. “For me and everything I’ve been through, it’s one of the great seasons that I’ve had.”

Same for Cubs fans. The last out also set off a wild party outside Wrigley Field.

The Braves suffered another heartbreaking loss in the postseason, going down for the second year in a row in Game 5 of the division series.

Twelve straight division titles have produced only one World Series championship, and the Braves face an uncertain future. Gary Sheffield, Greg Maddux, Javy Lopez and Vinny Castilla are all in the last year of their contracts.

chicago's aramis ramirez is mobbed after blasting a two-run homer in the sixth inning. The Cubs beat the Braves, 5-1, Sunday at Turner Field in Atlanta.

“We had a terrific year,” manager Bobby Cox said. “The ball’s got to bounce your way. It just didn’t.”

A couple of ex-Pirates helped the Cubs break through in the postseason. Kenny Lofton led off the game with a double and came around to score the first run. Ramirez put the Cubs up 4-0 with a two-run homer in the sixth — a massive, 439-foot shot over the center-field wall.

Braves pitcher Mike Hampton didn’t even turn around after Ramirez connected. With Wood on the mound, the Cubs could have popped the champagne right then and there.

Wood won for the second time in the best-of-five series with a performance that matched his effort in Game 1.

A disputed call by the umpires — is that becoming a theme of this postseason? — led to the only Atlanta run.

The big Texan went eight innings, giving up just five hits before giving way to Borowski, an ex-Brave who finished off Atlanta in the ninth.

Chipper Jones led off the Atlanta ninth with a long drive to right field and — in a further sign that the Cubs’ fortunes have changed — Sosa jumped and caught it at the wall.

Lopez and Jones then went down swinging, no doubt sending all of Chicago into a delirious celebration.

The Braves were a dominant hitting team during the regular season, leading the NL in all major categories. But the lineup that produced six 20-homer players and four guys with 100 RBIs couldn’t do anything against Chicago’s young guns.

Twenty-three-year-old Mark Prior pitched a two-hitter in Game 3, a 3-1 victory for the Cubs. Wood, 26, gave up seven hits and three runs in 151/3 innings.

The grand total for Atlanta’s offense in those three games: four runs, 10 hits and 28 strikeouts.

“Their pitching is awful strong,” Cox said.

Once again, thousands of Cubs fans were on hand to cheer their beloved team, ignoring years of heartache to provide some Chicago hope. The crowd of 54,357 was a Braves franchise record, eclipsing the turnout of 53,775 that watched Hank Aaron break Babe Ruth’s home run record in 1974.

For the Cubs, this all started on the first day of spring training.

Baker told the team in spring training to forget about the past — he was only worried about the future. The Cubs took his words to heart, winning a three-way battle with Houston and St. Louis in the NL Central, their first division title since 1989.

“I just prayed a lot and asked the Lord to change the mind-set of these players, of this organization,” Baker said. “Quite frankly, we didn’t think we were going to get it done this quickly.”

The Cubs now meet Florida’s Marlins, who gathered at a Florida airport late Sunday night, not certain if their charter flight was destined for Chicago or Atlanta.

“We’re all on a high, really,” Marlins manager Jack McKeon said. “It’s an exciting time. No one thought we’d be here.”

Florida punched its first NLCS ticket since 1997 on Saturday, beating San Francisco 7-6 to close out their best-of-five division series in four games.