2001 Oakland Athletics
American League Wild Card Winners
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionWest
BallparkNetwork Associates Coliseum
CityOakland, California
Record102–60 (.630)
Divisional place2nd
OwnersStephen Schott & Kenneth Hofmann
General managersBilly Beane
ManagersArt Howe
TelevisionKICU-TV
FSN Bay Area
(Ray Fosse, Greg Papa)
RadioKABL
(Bill King, Ken Korach, Ray Fosse)
← 2000 Seasons 2002 →

The Oakland Athletics' 2001 season was the team's 34th in Oakland, California, and the 101st season in franchise history. The team finished second in the American League West with a record of 102–60.

The Athletics entered the 2001 season with high expectations. Much of the excitement stemmed from the team's trio of promising young starting pitchers (Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, and Tim Hudson); after a strong showing in 2000, many expected the Athletics' rotation to rank among the American League's best in 2001. The trade of additional starter Cory Lidle during the 2000-01 offseason helped solidify the rotation's back-end. On offense, the Athletics were loaded; sluggers Miguel Tejada, Eric Chavez, and reigning American League MVP Jason Giambi comprised the core of a powerful Oakland attack. The addition of Johnny Damon, acquired in a three-way trade for Ben Grieve, promised to add a new dimension to the Athletics' offense. A strong bullpen (led by Chad Bradford, Jim Mecir, and Jason Isringhausen) rounded out Oakland's roster.

These high expectations quickly evaporated. The Athletics stumbled out of the gate (winning just two of their first dozen games); while their play nominally improved over the first half of the season, they failed to build upon the momentum of their division-winning 2000 campaign. The rival Seattle Mariners, in stark contrast, raced to a historic 52-14 start. As expected, the offense performed well; Oakland was instead hamstrung by unexpectedly terrible starting pitching. At the season's midpoint, the A's boasted a sub-.500 record (39-42); they trailed the division-leading Mariners by some 21 games.

The Athletics responded with arguably the most dominant second half in modern MLB history. Over their final 81 regular season games, the A's went 63-18 (a record since the league switched to a 162-game schedule); this included 29 wins in their final 33 games. The Athletics' maligned rotation returned to form; over their final games, Zito, Mulder, Hudson, and Lidle went a combined 48-10. On July 25, the Athletics acquired slugger Jermaine Dye from the Kansas City Royals for prospects; this move further energized the already-surging squad. The Athletics ultimately weren't able to catch up with Seattle (which won an AL-record 116 games), but their remarkable run allowed them to clinch the AL's Wild Card. The Athletics' 102 wins were at the time the most by a Wild Card clincher in MLB history.

The Athletics faced the New York Yankees (the three-time defending World Series champions) in the ALDS. Oakland took the first two games, but unraveled after a heartbreaking 1-0 loss in Game 3, in which Jeremy Giambi was infamously thrown out at the plate after a relay throw was flipped by Derek Jeter to Jorge Posada; they would lose the series to the Yankees in five games. At the end of the season, Oakland would lose Giambi, Damon, and Isringhausen to free agency; this would set the stage for the events portrayed in Michael Lewis' bestselling book Moneyball (and the film of the same name).

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings

AL West 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Seattle Mariners 116 46 0.716 — 57–24 59–22
Oakland Athletics 102 60 0.630 14 53–28 49–32
Anaheim Angels 75 87 0.463 41 39–42 36–45
Texas Rangers 73 89 0.451 43 41–41 32–48


Record vs. opponents

2001 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team ANA BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KC MIN NYY OAK SEA TB TEX TOR NL 
Anaheim — 4–5 4–3 6–3 5–4 5–4 5–4 3–6 4–3 6–14 4–15 7–2 7–12 5–4 10–8
Baltimore 5–4 — 9–10 3–4 1–5 4–2 5–2 3–3 5–13 2–7 1–8 10–9 2–7 7–12 6–12
Boston 3–4 10–9 — 3–3 3–6 4–5 3–3 3–3 5–13 4–5 3–6 14–5 5–2 12–7 10–8
Chicago 3–6 4–3 3–3 — 10–9 13–6 14–5 5–14 1–5 1–8 2–7 5–2 7–2 3–3 12–6
Cleveland 4–5 5–1 6–3 9–10 — 13–6 11–8 14–5 4–5 4–3 2–5 5–1 5–4 2–4 7–11
Detroit 4–5 2–4 5–4 6–13 6–13 — 8–11 4–15 4–5 1–6 2–5 4–2 8–1 2–4 10–8
Kansas City 4–5 2–5 3–3 5–14 8–11 11–8 — 6–13 0–6 3–6 3–6 4–2 4–5 4–3 8–10
Minnesota 6–3 3–3 3–3 14–5 5–14 15–4 13–6 — 4–2 5–4 1–8 1–6 4–5 2–5 9–9
New York 3–4 13–5 13–5 5–1 5–4 5–4 6–0 2–4 — 3–6 3–6 13–6 3–4 11–8 10–8
Oakland 14–6 7–2 5–4 8–1 3–4 6–1 6–3 4–5 6–3 — 9–10 7–2 9–10 6–3 12–6
Seattle 15–4 8–1 6–3 7–2 5–2 5–2 6–3 8–1 6–3 10–9 — 7–2 15–5 6–3 12–6
Tampa Bay 2–7 9–10 5–14 2–5 1–5 2–4 2–4 6–1 6–13 2–7 2–7 — 4–5 9–10 10–8
Texas 12–7 7–2 2–5 2–7 4–5 1–8 5–4 5–4 4–3 10–9 5–15 5–4 — 3–6 8–10
Toronto 4–5 12–7 7–12 3–3 4–2 4–2 3–4 5–2 8–11 3–6 3–6 10–9 6–3 — 8–10


Notable transactions

Roster

2001 Oakland Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Postseason

The A's lost 3-2 to the New York Yankees in the 2001 American League Division Series.

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 Ramón Hernández 156 453 115 .254 15 60
1B Jason Giambi 154 520 178 .342 38 120
2B Frank Menechino 139 471 114 .242 12 60
SS Miguel Tejada 162 622 166 .267 31 113
3B Eric Chavez 151 552 159 .288 32 114
LF Terrence Long 162 629 178 .283 12 85
CF Johnny Damon 155 644 165 .256 9 49
RF Jermaine Dye 61 232 69 .297 13 59
DH Jeremy Giambi 124 371 105 .283 12 57

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
Olmedo Sáenz 106 305 67 .220 9 32
Adam Piatt 36 95 20 .211 0 6
Greg Myers 33 87 16 .184 7 13
Ron Gant 34 81 21 .259 2 13
Mark Bellhorn 38 74 10 .135 1 4
F.P. Santangelo 32 71 14 .197 0 8
Billy McMillon 20 58 17 .293 0 10
Mario Valdez 32 54 15 .278 1 8
Robin Jennings 20 52 13 .250 0 4
John Jaha 12 45 4 .089 0 8
José Ortiz 11 42 7 .167 0 3
Eric Byrnes 19 38 9 .237 3 5
Tom Wilson 9 21 4 .190 2 4
Sal Fasano 11 21 1 .048 0 0
Rob Ryan 7 7 0 .000 0 0
Ryan Christenson 7 4 0 .000 0 0
Andy Abad 1 1 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Tim Hudson 35 235.0 18 9 3.37 181
Mark Mulder 34 229.1 21 8 3.45 153
Barry Zito 35 214.1 17 8 3.49 205
Cory Lidle 29 188.0 13 6 3.59 118
Gil Heredia 24 109.2 7 8 5.58 48
Erik Hiljus 16 66.0 5 0 3.41 67

Relief pitchers

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

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Jason Isringhausen 65 4 3 34 2.65 74
Jeff Tam 70 2 4 3 3.01 44
Mike Magnante 65 3 1 0 2.77 23
Jim Mecir 54 2 8 3 3.43 61
Mark Guthrie 54 6 2 1 4.47 52
Luis Vizcaíno 36 2 1 1 4.66 31
Chad Bradford 35 2 1 1 2.70 34
T.J. Mathews 20 0 1 1 5.09 19
Mike Fyhrie 3 0 0 0 0.00 5
Chad Harville 3 0 0 0 0.00 2

Awards and records

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Sacramento River Cats Pacific Coast League Bob Geren
AA Midland RockHounds Texas League Tony DeFrancesco
A Modesto A's California League Greg Sparks
A Visalia Oaks California League Juan Navarrette
A-Short Season Vancouver Canadians Northwest League Webster Garrison
Rookie AZL Athletics Arizona League Ricky Nelson

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: AZL Athletics

References

  1. ^ Aaron Harang at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Johnny Damon at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Neal Cotts at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Dan Johnson at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ José Ortiz at Baseball Reference

External links

American League Wild Card teams
2001 MLB season by team
Oakland Athletics
Categories