In the American League, the New York Yankees made their seventh straight postseason appearance, the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics returned for the second straight year, and the Cleveland Indians returned for the sixth time in eight years. The 2001 Mariners set an MLB record by winning 116 games during the regular season. This postseason was also the most recent to feature the Mariners until 2022.
In the National League, the Atlanta Braves made their tenth consecutive postseason appearance, the St. Louis Cardinals returned for the second year in a row, the Houston Astros made their third appearance in the past four years, and the Arizona Diamondbacks made their second appearance in the past three years.
The postseason began on October 9, 2001, and ended on November 4, 2001, with the Diamondbacks shocking the three-time defending World Series champion Yankees in seven games in the 2001 World Series. It was the first major league championship won by a team from Arizona.
This was the second postseason meeting between the Mariners and Indians, they had previously met in the 1995 ALCS which the Indians won in six games en route to the World Series. The Mariners narrowly defeated the Indians in five games to return to the ALCS for the second year in a row.
Bartolo Colón pitched eight shutout innings in Game 1 as the Indians stunned the Mariners 5–0 on the road. In Game 2, Mike Cameron, Edgar Martínez, David Bell all homered for the Mariners as they won 5–1 to even the series headed to Cleveland. In Game 3, the Indians blew out the Mariners 17–3 to regain the series lead, handing the Mariners their worst playoff loss ever and were now one win away from completing a massive upset. However, their lead wouldn’t hold. Freddy García pitched seven solid innings in Game 4 as the Mariners won by four runs to send the series back to Seattle for a decisive fifth game. Jamie Moyer and Kazuhiro Sasaki kept the Indians offense at bay in Game 5 as the Mariners won 3–1 to hang on and advance.
This was the most recent playoff win for Seattle until 2022, where they swept the Toronto Blue Jays in the Wild Card series. This was the last postseason appearance for the Indians until 2007.
In a rematch of the previous year's ALDS, the Yankees rallied from a 2–0 series deficit to once again defeat the Athletics in five games, returning to the ALCS for the fifth time in the past six seasons.
The Athletics took Games 1 and 2 in the Bronx, and looked poised to eliminate the Yankees. However, when the series moved to Oakland, the Yankees took Game 3 in a 1–0 shutout, and then blew out the Athletics in Game 4 to even the series. Game 5 of this ALDS was memorable for a play by Derek Jeter in the top of the eighth inning. During that inning, Oakland's Terrance Long hit a towering foul pop up in a two-run game. Jeter then went after the ball making a backhanded grab, and then turning his body, flipped into the stands. For a moment, no one knew if the ball had been caught, but it was eventually confirmed. The Yankees took Game 5 by a 5–3 score, and returned to the ALCS.
The Athletics would make their next postseason appearance in 2003, where they lost to the Boston Red Sox in five games in the ALDS after blowing another series lead.
Game 5 of the 2001 ALDS is shown in the opening scene of the 2011 film Moneyball. The film shows Johnny Damon's first inning leadoff double followed by Jason Giambi’s RBI single. Then, the defensive miscues by Oakland are shown as three errors were committed. The final out of the game (Eric Byrnes striking out) is used as a transition point from the game footage to the actual beginning of the film.
In the third postseason meeting between these two teams, the Braves swept the top-seeded Astros to return to the NLCS for the ninth time in eleven years.
Chipper Jones, Brian Jordan, and Andruw Jones all homered for the Braves as they rallied late to win Game 1 in Houston. Tom Glavine and John Smoltz kept the Astros’ bats silent in Game 2 as they pitched a 1–0 shutout to give the Braves a 2–0 series lead headed back home. John Burkett and the Braves’ bullpen once again neutered the Astros’ offense as they won 6–2 to complete the sweep.
The Braves and Astros would meet again in the NLDS two more times - in 2004 and 2005, which were both won by the Astros.
(2) Arizona Diamondbacks vs. (4) St. Louis Cardinals
This was the first postseason meeting between the Diamondbacks and Cardinals. The Diamondbacks prevailed in a back-and-forth five game series to advance to the NLCS for the first time in franchise history.
Curt Schilling pitched a three-hit complete game shutout for the Diamondbacks in Game 1, while the Cardinals won Game 2 by a 4–1 score to even the series and gain the home field advantage. In St. Louis, the Diamondbacks rallied late to win Game 3 and regain the series lead, while the Cardinals took Game 4 in another 4–1 victory to send the series back to Phoenix for Game 5. Schilling once again helped the Diamondbacks narrowly defeat the Cardinals in Game 5, and they won by a 2–1 score to advance to the NLCS.
Both the Cardinals and Diamondbacks would meet again in the NLDS the following year, with the Cardinals winning in a sweep.
This was the third postseason meeting between the Yankees and Mariners, and a rematch of the previous year’s ALCS, which was won by the Yankees in six games. In a significant upset given their regular season win differential, the 95-win Yankees upset the 116-win Mariners to advance to the World Series for the fifth time in six years.
The series was lopsided in favor of the Yankees - Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera excelled on the mound as the Yankees stole Game 1 in Seattle. Mike Mussina and Rivera stopped a rally by the Mariners as they took Game 2 to go up 2–0 in the series headed to the Bronx. In Game 3, Jamie Moyer pitched seven solid innings and John Olerud, Jay Buhner, and Bret Boone all homered as the Mariners blew out the Yankees to get on the board in the series. Game 4 remained scoreless through seven innings until Boone put the Mariners in the lead with a solo home run in the top of the eighth. However, it wouldn’t hold as the Yankees rallied to win in the bottom of the ninth thanks to a walk-off two-run home run from Alfonso Soriano to take a commanding 3–1 series lead. The Yankees clinched the pennant with a blowout win in Game 5 as Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez and Paul O'Neill all hit home runs.
After the series loss, the Mariners entered a slump, and held the longest postseason appearance drought in North American sports. They would not return to the postseason again until 2022. To date, this remains the last postseason appearance outside of the Divisional round for the Mariners. The Yankees would win their next AL pennant in 2003 over their archrival in the Boston Red Sox in seven games.
MLB.com ranked the Yankees’ upset of the Mariners as the third biggest upset in postseason history.[33]
The Diamondbacks defeated the Braves in five games to advance to the World Series for the first time in franchise history.
The teams split the first two games in Phoenix - the Diamondbacks took Game 1 by a 2–0 score thanks to a three-hit complete game shutout by Randy Johnson, who out-dueled Greg Maddux, while the Braves blew out the Diamondbacks in Game 2 thanks to a lights out performance from Tom Glavine to even the series. When the series moved to Atlanta, the Diamondbacks won Game 3 by a 5–1 score as Curt Schilling pitched yet another complete game. The Diamondbacks then blew out the Braves by seven runs in Game 4 to take a 3–1 series lead. In Game 5, Byung-hyun Kim held off a late rally by the Braves as the Diamondbacks held on to win and secure their first NL pennant.
The Diamondbacks would return to the NLCS in 2007, but were swept by the Colorado Rockies, who made a Cinderella run to the World Series. They would not win the NL pennant again until 2023, where they defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in seven games after trailing 2–0 and 3–2 in the series.
This was the last time the Braves appeared in the NLCS until 2020, where they fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games after leading the series three games to one.
This was the first World Series ever played in the Mountain West region. In what is considered by many to be one of the greatest World Series ever played, the Diamondbacks shocked the Yankees in seven games to win their first championship in franchise history, denying the Yankees a fourth straight title.
The first two games were dominated by Arizona, as they blew out the Yankees in Game 1, and won Game 2 in a shutout. When the series moved to the Bronx, the Yankees narrowly took Game 3. Then, the Yankees won Games 4 and 5, both in extra innings, due to two blown saves from Arizona's Byung-hyun Kim. The Yankees were now one win away from a fourth straight title. However, when the series moved back to Phoenix for Game 6, the Diamondbacks blew out the Yankees 15–2 to force a Game 7, handing the Yankees what was their worst postseason loss in franchise history until 2018. Game 7 was the most memorable contest of the series - the Diamondbacks scored first in the bottom of the sixth to go up 1–0. Then the Yankees scored two unanswered runs in the top of the seventh and eighth innings to take the lead. In the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees were two outs away from securing the title, however the Diamondbacks tied the game at two runs each, handing Yankees closer Mariano Rivera his first blown save in four years. The series then ended with a walk-off, bases-loaded bloop single by Luis Gonzalez to clinch the title for Arizona. This was the first World Series since 1991 in which neither team won a game on the road.
The Diamondbacks would return to the postseason the next year in hopes of defending their title, but were swept by the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS. They returned to the NLCS in 2007, but were swept by the Colorado Rockies, who made a Cinderella run to the World Series. They would eventually return to the World Series in 2023, but they would lose to the Texas Rangers in five games.
The Yankees hoped to earn a shot a redemption the following year, but were upset by the eventual World Series champion Anaheim Angels in the ALDS. They would return to the World Series in 2003, but were defeated by the Florida Marlins in six games. They would win their next and most recent championship in 2009, against the Philadelphia Phillies in six games.
Broadcasting
This was the only postseason in which games primarily aired in the U.S. on Fox, with selected Division Series games on sister network Fox Family. Rightsholder ESPN did not originally sign on to air playoff games. This was modified in 2002 after Fox Family was sold to ESPN's parent company Disney and rebranded as ABC Family.
