| 2001 MLB season | |
| League: | Major League Baseball |
| Sport: | Baseball |
| Duration: | April 1 – November 4, 2001 |
| No Of Games: | 162 |
| No Of Teams: | 30 |
| Tv: | Fox/FX/Fox Family, ESPN |
| Draft: | Draft |
| Draft Link: | 2001 Major League Baseball draft |
| Top Pick: | Joe Mauer |
| Top Pick Link: | List of first overall MLB draft picks |
| Picked By: | Minnesota Twins |
| Season: | Regular Season |
| Mvp: | AL Ichiro Suzuki (SEA) |
| Mvp Link: | Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award |
| Playoffs: | Postseason |
| Playoffs Link: | 2001 Major League Baseball postseason |
| Conf1: | AL |
| Conf1 Link: | 2001 American League Championship Series |
| Conf1 Champ: | New York Yankees |
| Conf1 Runner-Up: | Seattle Mariners |
| Conf2: | NL |
| Conf2 Link: | 2001 National League Championship Series |
| Conf2 Champ: | Arizona Diamondbacks |
| Conf2 Runner-Up: | Atlanta Braves |
| Finals: | World Series |
| Finals Link: | 2001 World Series |
| Finals Champ: | Arizona Diamondbacks |
| Finals Runner-Up: | New York Yankees |
| World Series Mvp: | Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling (AZ) |
| World Series Mvp Link: | World Series MVP Award |
| Seasonslist: | List of Major League Baseball seasons |
| Seasonslistnames: | MLB |
| Prevseason Link: | 2000 Major League Baseball season |
| Prevseason Year: | 2000 |
| Nextseason Link: | 2002 Major League Baseball season |
| Nextseason Year: | 2002 |
The 2001 Major League Baseball season finished with the Arizona Diamondbacks defeating the New York Yankees in seven games for the World Series championship. The September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. pushed the end of the regular season from September 30 to October 7. Because of the attacks, the World Series was not completed until November 4. The 2001 World Series was the first World Series to end in November.
MLB used an unbalanced schedule for the first time since 1992 in the National League and 1976 in the American League. In all divisions except the NL Central and AL West each team played each of the other four teams in the same division 19 times. In the NL Central division foes met 16 or 17 times per season and in the AL West there were 19 or 20 games between each division foe.
This season was memorable for the Seattle Mariners tying the Major League regular season record of 116 wins, Barry Bonds breaking Mark McGwire's single-season home run record, and baseball's patriotic return after a week's worth of games being postponed due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
See main article: article and 2001 MLB Postseason.
| Statistic | American League | National League | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ichiro Suzuki SEA | .350 | Larry Walker COL | .350 | ||
| Alex Rodriguez TEX | 52 | Barry Bonds SF | 73 | ||
| Bret Boone SEA | 141 | Sammy Sosa CHC | 160 | ||
| Mark Mulder OAK | 21 | Matt Morris STL Curt Schilling AZ | 22 | ||
| Freddy García SEA | 3.05 | Randy Johnson AZ | 2.49 | ||
| Hideo Nomo BOS | 220 | Randy Johnson AZ | 372 | ||
| Mariano Rivera NYY | 50 | Robb Nen SF | 45 | ||
| Ichiro Suzuki SEA | 56 | Juan Pierre COL Jimmy Rollins PHI | 46 | ||
| Team | Manager | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Scioscia | |||
| Mike Hargrove | |||
| Boston Red Sox | Replaced during the season by Joe Kerrigan | ||
| Chicago White Sox | |||
| Won the American League pennant | |||
| Seattle Mariners± | |||
| Larry Rothschild | Replaced during the season by Hal McRae | ||
| Johnny Oates | Replaced during the season by Jerry Narron | ||
| Team | Manager | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Brenly | Won the World Series | ||
| Bobby Cox | |||
| Don Baylor | |||
| Buddy Bell | |||
| Replaced during the season by Tony Pérez | |||
| Larry Dierker | |||
| Jim Tracy | |||
| Milwaukee Brewers | Davey Lopes | ||
| Felipe Alou | Replaced during the season by Jeff Torborg | ||
| Bobby Valentine | |||
| Larry Bowa | |||
| Lloyd McClendon | |||
| Bruce Bochy | |||
| Dusty Baker |
Alex Rodriguez (TEX, American); Barry Bonds (SF, National).
Mariano Rivera (NYY, American); Armando Benítez (NYM, National).
| Month | American League | National League | |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | Luis Gonzalez | ||
| May | Barry Bonds | ||
| June | Luis Gonzalez | ||
| July | Jeff Bagwell | ||
| August | Sammy Sosa | ||
| September | Barry Bonds |
| Month | American League | National League | |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | Wade Miller | ||
| May | Curt Schilling | ||
| June | Greg Maddux | ||
| July | Greg Maddux | ||
| August | Javier Vázquez | ||
| September | Woody Williams |
| Month | American League | National League | |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | Albert Pujols | ||
| May | Albert Pujols | ||
| June | Ben Sheets | ||
| July | Pedro Feliz | ||
| August | Roy Oswalt | ||
| September | Bud Smith |
| Team name | Wins | Home attendance | Est. payroll | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle Mariners[1] | 116 | 27.5% | 3,507,326 | 20.3% | 43,300 | $74,720,834 | 23.5% | |
| San Francisco Giants[2] | 90 | -7.2% | 3,311,958 | -0.2% | 40,888 | $63,280,167 | 17.8% | |
| New York Yankees[3] | 95 | 9.2% | 3,264,907 | 6.9% | 40,811 | $112,787,143 | 21.1% | |
| Cleveland Indians[4] | 91 | 1.1% | 3,175,523 | -8.1% | 39,694 | $93,360,001 | 21.3% | |
| Colorado Rockies[5] | 73 | -11.0% | 3,166,821 | -3.9% | 39,097 | $71,541,334 | 17.1% | |
| St. Louis Cardinals[6] | 93 | -2.1% | 3,109,578 | -6.8% | 37,922 | $79,373,333 | 28.7% | |
| Baltimore Orioles[7] | 63 | -14.9% | 3,094,841 | -6.1% | 38,686 | $74,279,540 | -9.8% | |
| Los Angeles Dodgers[8] | 86 | 0.0% | 3,017,143 | 4.8% | 37,249 | $109,105,953 | 23.8% | |
| Houston Astros[9] | 93 | 29.2% | 2,904,277 | -5.0% | 35,855 | $60,612,667 | 18.2% | |
| Texas Rangers[10] | 73 | 2.8% | 2,831,021 | 9.4% | 34,525 | $88,633,500 | 25.2% | |
| Atlanta Braves[11] | 88 | -7.4% | 2,823,530 | -12.7% | 34,858 | $91,936,166 | 8.5% | |
| Milwaukee Brewers[12] | 68 | -6.8% | 2,811,041 | 78.6% | 34,704 | $43,886,833 | 17.6% | |
| Chicago Cubs[13] | 88 | 35.4% | 2,779,465 | -0.4% | 34,314 | $64,715,833 | 6.9% | |
| Arizona Diamondbacks[14] | 92 | 8.2% | 2,736,451 | -7.0% | 33,783 | $85,082,999 | 5.0% | |
| New York Mets[15] | 82 | -12.8% | 2,658,330 | -5.8% | 32,819 | $93,174,428 | 17.2% | |
| Boston Red Sox[16] | 82 | -3.5% | 2,625,333 | 1.5% | 32,412 | $110,035,833 | 37.6% | |
| Pittsburgh Pirates[17] | 62 | -10.1% | 2,464,870 | 40.9% | 30,430 | $57,760,833 | 84.4% | |
| San Diego Padres[18] | 79 | 3.9% | 2,378,128 | 1.1% | 29,360 | $39,182,833 | -28.8% | |
| Oakland Athletics[19] | 102 | 12.1% | 2,133,277 | 33.0% | 26,337 | $33,810,750 | 1.9% | |
| Anaheim Angels[20] | 75 | -8.5% | 2,000,919 | -3.2% | 24,703 | $47,735,167 | -9.4% | |
| Detroit Tigers[21] | 66 | -16.5% | 1,921,305 | -21.2% | 23,720 | $53,416,167 | -10.4% | |
| Toronto Blue Jays[22] | 80 | -3.6% | 1,915,438 | 12.3% | 23,359 | $76,895,999 | 67.0% | |
| Cincinnati Reds[23] | 66 | -22.4% | 1,879,757 | -27.1% | 23,207 | $48,986,000 | 4.5% | |
| Minnesota Twins[24] | 85 | 23.2% | 1,782,929 | 78.2% | 22,011 | $24,130,000 | 37.7% | |
| Philadelphia Phillies[25] | 86 | 32.3% | 1,782,054 | 10.5% | 22,001 | $41,663,833 | -12.3% | |
| Chicago White Sox[26] | 83 | -12.6% | 1,766,172 | -9.3% | 21,805 | $65,653,667 | 106.8% | |
| Kansas City Royals[27] | 65 | -15.6% | 1,536,371 | -1.8% | 18,968 | $35,422,500 | 42.2% | |
| Tampa Bay Devil Rays[28] | 62 | -10.1% | 1,298,365 | -10.4% | 16,029 | $56,980,000 | -9.9% | |
| Florida Marlins[29] | 76 | -3.8% | 1,261,226 | 3.5% | 15,765 | $35,762,500 | 75.8% | |
| Montreal Expos[30] | 68 | 1.5% | 642,745 | -30.6% | 7,935 | $35,159,500 | 6.6% |
This was the first season that national television coverage was split between ESPN and Fox Sports. ESPN and ESPN2 aired selected weeknight and Sunday night games, and selected Division Series playoff games. Fox televised Saturday baseball, the All-Star Game, selected Division Series games, both League Championship Series, and the World Series. Sister network FX also aired Saturday primetime games. Thursday night games moved from Fox Sports Net to Fox Family. Fox Family also aired selected Division Series games. This was the last season that Fox Sports broadcast regular season games on either Fox Family or FX.