2001 in baseball


Champions

Major League Baseball

  • Regular Season Champions
LeagueEastern Division ChampionCentral Division ChampionWestern Division ChampionWild Card Qualifier
American LeagueNew York YankeesCleveland IndiansSeattle MarinersOakland Athletics
National LeagueAtlanta BravesHouston AstrosArizona DiamondbacksSt. Louis Cardinals

  • World Series Champion – Arizona Diamondbacks
  • Postseason – October 9 to November 4
Click on any series score to link to that series' page.

Higher seed has home field advantage during Division Series and League Championship Series.

The National League Champion has home field advantage during the World Series as a result of the pre-2003 "alternating years" rule.

American League is seeded 1-3/2-4 as a result of the AL regular season champion and the AL wild card coming from the same division.

National League is seeded 1-3/2-4 as a result of the NL regular season champion and the NL wild card coming from the same division.
1 All-time single-season home runs record

Major League Baseball final standings

  • The asterisk denotes the club that won the wild card for its respective league.
  • Note: St. Louis and Houston finished the season tied, and Houston was awarded the division title due to winning their season series.
  • ** The Seattle Mariners break the single season record for most wins in the AL with 116.

    Events

January

  • January 16 – Outfielders Dave Winfield and Kirby Puckett are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in their first year on the ballot.
  • January 22 – World Series standout Tommie Agee dies of a cardiac arrest in Manhattan at the age of 58. As the New York Mets center fielder, the 1966 AL Rookie of the Year made two memorable catches and hit a home run in a 5–0 Game Three victory over the Baltimore Orioles in the 1969 Fall Classic.
  • January 23 – The Northern League announced that it had awarded a franchise to Northwest Sports Ventures, later to be named the Gary SouthShore RailCats.
  • January 26 – Alex Rodriguez signs as a free agent with the Texas Rangers. The ten-year contract worth $252 million is the most lucrative contract in sports history. The deal is worth $63 million more than the second-richest baseball deal.

    February

  • February 8 – The Dominican Republic defeats Mexico 5–3 to take its fourth Caribbean World Series title in five years.
  • February 11 – Three Rivers Stadium, the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1970 to 2000, is imploded before thousands of onlookers. The team plays in new PNC Park this season.
  • February 20 – Atlanta Braves center fielder Andruw Jones wins a record $8.2 million contract in salary arbitration. The previous record of $7.25 million was set in 2000 by New York Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera.

    March

  • March 6 – Second baseman Bill Mazeroski and Negro league pitcher Hilton Smith are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.
  • March 8 – The Baltimore Orioles announce that Albert Belle is "totally disabled and unable to perform as a major league baseball player" due to a severe case of degenerative arthritis of the right hip.
  • March 23 – A panel of veteran baseball writers, historians and executives selects a roster of the 100 Greatest Cleveland Indians Players, as part of the club's 100th Anniversary Celebration.
  • March 24 – One of Major League Baseball's more bizarre moments occurs in a Spring training game between the San Francisco Giants and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Randy Johnson is on the mound and pitches as a bird flies between the mound and the plate. The ball hits the bird in an "explosion of feathers" that kills the bird. The official call is a "no pitch".

    April

  • April 4:
  • *Hideo Nomo hurls a 3–0 no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles in his Boston Red Sox debut. It is Nomo's second career no-hitter, making him the fourth pitcher in history to hurl one in both the NL and the AL. It is also the earliest no-hitter, by date, in major league history, as well as the first by a Red Sox pitcher since Dave Morehead's gem in 1965.
  • *Carlos Delgado hits three home runs helping the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 11–8.
  • April 6 – The Milwaukee Brewers defeat the Cincinnati Reds 5–4 in the first game played at Miller Park in Milwaukee.
  • April 9 – The Pittsburgh Pirates lose to the Cincinnati Reds 8–2 in the first game played at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
  • April 12 – José Hernández of the Milwaukee Brewers hits two home runs and ties a team record with seven runs batted in, as Milwaukee defeats the Houston Astros, 12–4.
  • April 14 – A major league record is set as 11 one-run games are played, breaking the mark of 10 set in 1967. With a 1–0 win over the New York Mets, the Cincinnati Reds set the modern-day National League record with their 175th consecutive game without being shut out, breaking the mark of 174 set by the 1992–93 Philadelphia Phillies.
  • April 17 – Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants becomes the 17th player in major league history to hit 500 career home runs.
  • April 20 – For the second time in the month, Carlos Delgado hits three home runs in a game, including his 200th career homer, leading the Toronto Blue Jays to a 12–4 victory over the Kansas City Royals.
  • April 22 – Pedro Astacio pitched a two-hitter, striking out eight and walking one, to guide the Colorado Rockies to a 2–1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Bank One Ballpark. Astacio is lifted in the ninth inning, after allowing one single and hitting his fourth hitter of the game, tying a Major League Baseball record for the most hit by pitches in a single game. The previously was Orel Hershiser, who did it on April 19, 2000. Larry Walker belted a solo home run and Jeff Cirillo added an RBI-single to back the 50th career win of Astacio with Colorado, becoming the first franchise pitcher to reach that level.
  • April 26 – Luis Gonzalez of the Arizona Diamondbacks hits his home runs No. 12 and 13, tying Ken Griffey Jr. for the most homers in Major League history for the month of April. This record has since been passed by the St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols and the New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez, who respectively hit 14 home runs during April in and.

    May

  • May 1 – Deion Sanders makes his return to Major League Baseball with the Cincinnati Reds and goes 3–3, including a three-run home run off of Éric Gagné in a win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
  • May 5 – The Chicago Cubs defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 20–1. It is the 15th time since 1900 that Chicago scores 20 runs in a game, and the 11th time they do it at Wrigley Field.
  • May 8 – Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks records twenty strikeouts in a game against the Cincinnati Reds. While all strikeouts come before the end of the ninth inning, the game goes to extra innings, with the Diamondbacks winning. Johnson is the first left-handed pitcher to record 20 strikeouts in a game, and is the first to do so without winning the game.
  • May 12:
  • *A. J. Burnett of the Florida Marlins pitches an unlikely no-hitter, overcoming nine bases on balls to lead Florida over the San Diego Padres, 3–0, at Qualcomm Stadium. It is the second no-hitter of the season and the 228th overall in the major leagues. Burnett strikes out seven and hits a batter, but his nine walks represents a record in a nine-inning no-hitter game. He is only surpassed by Jim Maloney, who struck out 11 but gave up 10 walks in a ten-inning no-hitter on August 19,, as the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Chicago Cubs, 1–0, at Wrigley Field.
  • *Carlos Delgado hits his 204th home run in a Toronto Blue Jays uniform, surpassing Joe Carter as the all-time Blue Jays career leader in homers.
  • *Gary Sheffield of the Los Angeles Dodgers becomes the first player in major league history to win three 1–0 games in a season with a home run, when he solos to beat the Atlanta Braves 1–0. He also supplied the only scoring by homering on April 2 versus Milwaukee, and on May 7 against Florida.
  • May 16:
  • *Rickey Henderson leads off with a home run, extending his major league record for leadoff homers to 79. This equals the total for the #2 and #3 players on the list, Brady Anderson and Bobby Bonds.
  • *Sammy Sosa hits his 400th career home run.
  • May 25 – Hideo Nomo of the Boston Red Sox tosses a one-hitter and strikes out 14 in a 4–0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. Nomo faces one batter over the minimum of 27, giving up a leadoff double in the fourth inning to Shannon Stewart. Previously, Nomo had tossed a no-hit game on April 4 against the Orioles.
  • May 28 – Collecting five singles and a three-run home run, Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Paul Lo Duca goes 6-for-6 against the Colorado Rockies to tie an NL record for hits in an extra-inning game.
  • May 29 – The Arizona Diamondbacks outlast the San Francisco Giants, 1–0, in an 18-inning marathon at Pacific Bell Park.