2001 Chicago Cubs
LeagueNational League
DivisionCentral
BallparkWrigley Field
CityChicago
Record88–74 (.543)
Divisional place3rd
OwnersTribune Company
General managersAndy MacPhail
ManagersDon Baylor
TelevisionWCIU/Superstation WGN
(Chip Caray, Joe Carter)
FSN Chicago
(Chip Caray, Dave Otto)
RadioWGN
(Pat Hughes, Ron Santo)
StatsESPN.com
BB-reference
← 2000 Seasons 2002 →

The 2001 Chicago Cubs season was the 130th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 126th in the National League and the 86th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished third in the National League Central with a record of 88–74.

Offseason

Regular season

During a forgettable 2000 season, Jim Hendry sent pitcher Scott Downs to Montreal and acquired Rondell White. This laid the groundwork for the 2001 season, which saw the North Siders make another drive for the playoffs. Mack Newton was brought in by the club to preach "positive mental thought", and it paid off. Matt Stairs started the season at first base, but ultimately the Cubs made a mid-June trade to acquire All-Star 1B Fred McGriff, though McGriff took over a month debating whether or not to approve the deal and leave his hometown Tampa Bay Devil Rays, ultimately waiving his no-trade clause and allow himself to be dealt to Chicago on July 27. "The Crime Dog" hit a respectable .282 with 12 homers in 49 games with the Cubs, hitting cleanup behind Sammy Sosa, who had perhaps his best season, hitting 64 homers with career highs in batting average (.328) and RBI (160) for Don Baylor's club. Jon Lieber had a 20 win season, and along with Kevin Tapani and Kerry Wood made up a solid rotation. The Cubs led the eventual Wild Card winning Cardinals by 2.5 games in early September, but Preston Wilson's walk-off homer off of closer Tom "Flash" Gordon took the wind out of the team's sails, failing to make another serious charge. The Cubs did manage to finish 88–74, only 5 games behind both St. Louis and Houston, who tied for first. One of the season's most memorable moments came on September 27, when Sammy Sosa carried an American flag around the bases after hitting a home run in the Cubs first home game since the September 11 attacks.

Season standings

NL Central 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Houston Astros 93 69 0.574 — 44–37 49–32
St. Louis Cardinals 93 69 0.574 — 54–28 39–41
Chicago Cubs 88 74 0.543 5 48–33 40–41
Milwaukee Brewers 68 94 0.420 25 36–45 32–49
Cincinnati Reds 66 96 0.407 27 27–54 39–42
Pittsburgh Pirates 62 100 0.383 31 38–43 24–57


Record vs. opponents

2001 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]
Team ARI ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LAD MIL MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL AL
Arizona — 5–2 6–3 5–1 13–6 4–2 2–4 10–9 3–3 3–3 3–3 3–4 4–2 12–7 10–9 2–4 7–8
Atlanta 2–5 — 4–2 4–2 4–2 9–10 3–3 2–5 3–3 13–6 10–9 10–9 5–1 3–3 4–2 3–3 9–9
Chicago 3–6 2–4 — 13–4 3–3 3–3 8–9 4–2 8–9 3–3 4–2 4–2 10–6 2–4 3–3 9–8 9–6
Cincinnati 1–5 2–4 4–13 — 3–6 4–2 6–11 4–2 6–10 4–2 4–2 2–4 9–8 2–4 4–2 7–10 4–11
Colorado 6–13 2–4 3–3 6–3 — 4–2 2–4 8–11 5–1 3–4 4–3 2–4 2–4 9–10 9–10 6–3 2–10
Florida 2–4 10–9 3–3 2–4 2–4 — 3–3 2–5 4–2 12–7 7–12 5–14 4–2 3–4 2–4 3–3 12–6
Houston 4–2 3–3 9–8 11–6 4–2 3–3 — 2–4 12–5 6–0 3–3 3–3 9–8 3–6 3–3 9–7 9–6
Los Angeles 9–10 5–2 2–4 2–4 11–8 5–2 4–2 — 5–1 2–4 2–4 3–3 7–2 9–10 11–8 3–3 6–9
Milwaukee 3–3 3–3 9–8 10–6 1–5 2–4 5–12 1–5 — 4–2 3–3 3–3 6–11 1–5 5–4 7–10 5–10
Montreal 3–3 6–13 3–3 2–4 4–3 7–12 0–6 4–2 2–4 — 8–11 9–10 5–1 3–3 2–5 2–4 8–10
New York 3–3 9–10 2–4 2–4 3–4 12–7 3–3 4–2 3–3 11–8 — 11–8 4–2 1–5 3–4 1–5 10–8
Philadelphia 4–3 9–10 2–4 4–2 4–2 14–5 3–3 3–3 3–3 10–9 8–11 — 5–1 5–2 3–3 2–4 7–11
Pittsburgh 2–4 1–5 6–10 8–9 4–2 2–4 8–9 2–7 11–6 1–5 2–4 1–5 — 2–4 1–5 3–14 8–7
San Diego 7–12 3–3 4–2 4–2 10–9 4–3 6–3 10–9 5–1 3–3 5–1 2–5 4–2 — 5–14 1–5 6–9
San Francisco 9–10 2–4 3–3 2–4 10–9 4–2 3–3 8–11 4–5 5–2 4–3 3–3 5–1 14–5 — 4–2 10–5
St. Louis 4–2 3–3 8–9 10–7 3–6 3–3 7–9 3–3 10–7 4–2 5–1 4–2 14–3 5–1 2–4 — 8–7


Transactions

Draft picks

Roster

2001 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

Coaching Staff

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Todd Hundley 79 246 46 .187 12 31
1B Matt Stairs 128 340 85 .250 17 61
2B Eric Young 149 603 168 .279 6 42
3B Ron Coomer 147 528 153 .290 8 53
SS Ricky Gutiérrez 111 349 91 .261 10 66
LF Rondell White 95 323 99 .307 17 50
CF Gary Matthews 106 258 56 .217 9 30
RF Sammy Sosa 160 577 189 .328 64 160

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Joe Girardi 78 229 58 .253 3 25
Bill Mueller 70 210 62 .295 6 23
Michael Tucker 63 205 54 .263 5 31
Fred McGriff 49 170 48 .282 12 41
Delino DeShields 68 163 45 .276 2 16
Augie Ojeda 78 144 29 .201 1 12
Robert Machado 52 135 30 .222 2 13
Corey Patterson 59 131 29 .221 4 14
Miguel Cairo 66 123 35 .285 2 9
Julio Zuleta 49 106 23 .217 6 24
Damon Buford 35 85 15 .176 3 8
Roosevelt Brown 39 83 22 .265 4 22
Todd Dunwoody 33 61 13 .213 1 3
Chad Meyers 18 17 2 .118 0 0
Jason Smith 2 1 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Jon Lieber 34 232.1 20 6 3.80 148
Jason Bere 32 188.0 11 11 4.31 175
Kerry Wood 28 174.1 12 6 3.36 217
Kevin Tapani 29 168.1 9 14 4.49 149
Julián Tavárez 34 161.1 10 9 4.52 107
Juan Cruz 8 44.2 3 1 3.22 39
Joe Borowski 1 1.2 0 1 32.40 1

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Carlos Zambrano 6 7.2 1 2 15.26 4

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Tom Gordon 47 1 2 27 3.38 67
Jeff Fassero 82 4 4 12 3.42 79
Kyle Farnsworth 76 4 6 2 2.74 107
Todd Van Poppel 59 4 1 0 2.52 90
Félix Heredia 48 2 2 0 6.17 28
Courtney Duncan 36 3 3 0 5.06 49
David Weathers 28 1 1 0 3.18 20
Manny Aybar 17 2 1 0 6.35 16
Ron Mahay 17 0 0 0 2.61 24
Mike Fyhrie 15 0 2 0 4.20 6
Will Ohman 11 0 1 0 7.71 12
Scott Chiasson 6 1 1 0 2.70 6

Awards and records

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Iowa Cubs Pacific Coast League Bruce Kimm
AA West Tenn Diamond Jaxx Southern League Dave Bialas
A Daytona Cubs Florida State League Dave Trembley
A Lansing Lugnuts Midwest League Julio Garcia
A-Short Season Boise Hawks Northwest League Steve McFarland
Rookie AZL Cubs Arizona League Carmelo Martínez

[10]

References

  1. ^ "Bill Mueller Stats".
  2. ^ "Jason Bere Stats".
  3. ^ Todd Hundley Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  4. ^ "Ron Coomer Stats".
  5. ^ a b "Trent Hubbard Stats".
  6. ^ "David Weathers Stats".
  7. ^ Mark Prior Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  8. ^ "Geovany Soto Stats".
  9. ^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.372, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  10. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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