2002 in baseball


Champions

Major League Baseball

  • Regular Season Champions
LeagueEastern Division ChampionCentral Division ChampionWestern Division ChampionWild Card Qualifier
American LeagueNew York YankeesMinnesota TwinsOakland AthleticsAnaheim Angels
National LeagueAtlanta BravesSt. Louis CardinalsArizona DiamondbacksSan Francisco Giants

  • World Series Champion – Anaheim Angels
  • Postseason – October 1 to October 27
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 American League Champion has home field advantage during World Series as a result of the pre-2003 "alternating years" rule.

Major league baseball final standings

  • ''The asterisk denotes the club that won the wild card for its respective league.''

    Events

January

  • January 8 – Ozzie Smith is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Smith, named on 91.7 percent of the ballots, became the 37th player in baseball history in being elected to be elected to the hall in his first year on the ballot.

    February

  • February 11 – Major League Baseball owners approve the sales of the Florida Marlins and Montreal Expos clubs. Marlins owner, John Henry, is selling the team to Jeffrey Loria for $158.5 million, while Loria is selling the Expos to Baseball Expos LP, a limited partnership owned by the other 29 MLB teams, for $120 million.
  • February 12 – New York Mets assistant general manager Omar Minaya is named general manager of the Montreal Expos, Minaya, a native from the Dominican Republic, becomes the first Hispanic by accepting the GM position in Major League Baseball history. Hall of Fame player-manager Frank Robinson is also announced as the manager of the Expos, which will be run by MLB during the 2002 season.
  • February 27 – The sale of the Boston Red Sox to a group headed by John Henry becomes official.

    March

  • March 1 – The Boston Red Sox dismissed general manager Dan Duquette and replaced him with Mike Port on an interim basis.
  • March 5 – The Boston Red Sox dismissed manager Joe Kerrigan and replaced him with Mike Cubbage on an interim basis.
  • March 11 – The Boston Red Sox hire Grady Little as their new manager.
  • March 19 – The YES Network is officially launched, going on air at noon on this day. The first live event to be broadcast on the network that day was a spring training game between the Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds.
  • March 22 – The Chicago Cubs send Ryan Jorgensen, Julián Tavárez, Dontrelle Willis and minor leaguer José Cueto to the Florida Marlins in exchange for Antonio Alfonseca and Matt Clement.

    April

  • April 2 – In beating the San Diego Padres, 9–0, the Arizona Diamondbacks became the first defending World Champions to open the season with back-to-back shutouts since the 1918-19 Boston Red Sox; the Sox shutouts were thrown by Carl Mays and Sad Sam Jones. Besides, the last team to start the year with consecutive shutouts was the 1994 San Francisco Giants. Curt Schilling is the winning pitcher against the Padres, following Randy Johnson's 2–0 two–hitter a day before.
  • April 3
  • *The San Francisco Giants defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 12–0, as Barry Bonds hits a pair of home runs for the second day in a row. Bonds becomes the second player in MLB history to begin a season with consecutive two-homer games. Previously, Eddie Mathews also hit a pair of homers in each of the Milwaukee Braves first two games against the Pittsburgh Pirates to start the 1958 season.
  • *At Oakland Coliseum, the Oakland Athletics lose to the Texas Rangers, 9–6, as the Rangers score three runs in the 8th inning. The loss snaps the A's string of 20 straight wins at home stretching back to August 24. Oakland moved past the 1974–75 Cincinnati Reds for most consecutive home wins over two seasons, as the Reds mark was 17.
  • April 5 – The San Francisco Giants defeat the San Diego Padres 3–1, in 10 innings, on Barry Bonds' fifth home run of the year. In doing so, Bonds ties the mark for most home runs in the first four games of the season, set by Lou Brock in 1967.
  • April 7 – The Arizona Diamondbacks defeats the Milwaukee Brewers, 2–0, as Curt Schilling strikes out 17 batters in hurling a one–hitter. Raúl Casanova's 2nd–inning single is the only Milwaukee hit.
  • April 11 – The Baltimore Orioles pound the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 15–6, scoring a franchise–high 12 runs in the 6th inning. They also collect a club–high 11 hits in 16 at-bats.
  • April 14 – Baltimore Orioles infielder Mike Bordick begins a streak which leads to a Major League record for the most errorless games and total chances by a shortstop.
  • April 16 – The Detroit Tigers win for the first time this season, defeating the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 9–3. The Tigers had lost their first 11 games for the fifth-worst start by a major league team.
  • April 21
  • *Rafael Furcal hits three triples to tie the modern major league record, as the Atlanta Braves defeat the Florida Marlins 4–2. The last player to accomplish the feat was Lance Johnson of the Chicago White Sox in.
  • *The Arizona Diamondbacks trounce the Colorado Rockies, 7–1, as Randy Johnson strikes out 17 batters in becoming the first pitcher this year to win five games. It is the sixth time that Johnson has fanned 17 or more batters in a game.
  • *Making his first start in almost seven years, the Cincinnati Reds' José Rijo allows one unearned run in five innings as the Reds defeat the Cubs, 5–3. It is Rijo's first win since July 13,.
  • April 27 – Boston Red Sox pitcher Derek Lowe hurls the first no-hitter at Fenway Park since the 1965 season, when Dave Morehead no-hit the Cleveland Indians 2–0 before only 1,247 fans at the ballpark. Lowe shutout the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 10–0. It was also the first career complete game for Lowe, who began last season as the Red Sox closer. In his first start this year, Lowe hurled seven hitless innings against the Baltimore Orioles.
  • April 29 – Former major league outfielder Darryl Strawberry is sentenced to 18 months in prison for violating the terms of his probation six times.
  • April 30 – Al Leiter of the New York Mets earns a win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, to become the first pitcher in Major League history to record wins over all 30 franchises that have existed since 1901.

    May

  • May 2 – The Seattle Mariners rout the Chicago White Sox, 15–4, as outfielder Mike Cameron becomes the thirteenth player in Major League history to slug four home runs in a single game, all solo shots. In doing so, he becomes the first American League player in 43 years to accomplish the feat. Cameron is also hit by a pitch and flies out to deep right field in a bid for a 5th homer. Cameron and second baseman Bret Boone also become the first teammates in history to hit back–to–back home runs twice in the same inning, performing the feat in Seattle's 10–run 1st inning. The Mariners also tie a team record with seven homers in the game. James Baldwin is the easy winner, with seven innings pitched. There had only been 39 previous occasions of a player hitting two home runs in an inning, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Eric Karros was last to do it, on August 22, 2000, for the Dodgers. Mark McGwire was the previous AL player to do it, on September 22, 1996, for Oakland.
  • May 4 – Barry Bonds hits his 400th home run as a Giant, leading his team to a 3–0 win over Cincinnati. Bonds is the first player to hit 400 homers for one team and 100 with another.
  • May 10 – The Anaheim Angels crush the White Sox 19–0. The Angels join the 1923 Indians, 1939 Yankees and 1950 Red Sox as the only teams to beat two opponents by 19 or more runs in the same season. Earlier this year, the Angels beat the Indians 21–2. The Anaheim victory over Chicago is just the 11th since 1901 in which a team scored 19 or more runs while shutting out its opponent, and the first such shutout in the AL since 1955 when Cleveland beat Boston 19–0.
  • May 17 – With the New York Yankees trailing the Minnesota Twins by three runs in the bottom of the 14th inning, Jason Giambi hits a walk-off grand slam to give the Yankees a 13–12 victory.
  • May 18 – During a rehab start with the triple A Pawtucket Red Sox, Manny Ramirez loses his $15,000 diamond earring while sliding into third base. About half his teammates on their hands and knees, along with the Syracuse grounds crew, are unable to recover it despite combing the third base area after the game.
  • May 23
  • *At Miller Park, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Shawn Green becomes the 14th man in major league history to hit four home runs in a game and sets a big league record with 19 total bases. He goes 6-for-6, scores six runs, and gets seven RBI in a 16–3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Green is the second player this year to hit four home runs in a game. He also surpasses Joe Adcock's former mark of 18 total bases, set in. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, six players have produced 17 or more total bases in a game, with the last being Mike Schmidt in. Green also is the first major league player to collect six hits while hitting four homers, and his four homers plus a double ties the NL mark for extra base hits. The Dodgers hit eight homers in the game, another franchise record. Before today's power display, Green had gone 0-for-15, and had been benched May 18.
  • *The Gary SouthShore RailCats played their first Northern League game on the road versus the Sioux Falls Canaries.
  • May 24 – The Los Angeles Dodgers lose to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 14–3, despite Shawn Green's fifth home run in two games, tying a major league record. Green also hits two singles to tie another mark with 25 total bases in the two games.
  • May 25
  • *The Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants, 6–3, as Barry Bonds takes over sole possession of fifth place on the all-time home run list with the 584th four-bagger of his career.
  • *The Los Angeles Dodgers top the Arizona Diamondbacks, 10–5, as Shawn Green hits two more home runs and drives home six runs. The seven home runs in three games is a new major league record.
  • May 29 – In an article in Sports Illustrated, former National League MVP Ken Caminiti says that about 50 percent of current major league players use some form of steroids.
  • May 31 – Carlos Beltrán, Mike Sweeney and Joe Randa hit consecutive home runs in the top of the 11th inning to pace the Kansas City Royals to a 10–7 victory over the Texas Rangers. The Royals became just the second team in MLB history to hit at least three consecutive home runs in extra innings. On May 2,, the Minnesota Twins hit four consecutive home runs, also in the top of the 11th inning, as Tony Oliva, Bob Allison, Jimmie Hall and Harmon Killebrew went deep in a 7–3 victory against the Kansas City Athletics.