|
2001 Arizona Diamondbacks
The 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, in their fourth year of existence, looked to improve on their 2000 season. They had to contend in what was a strong National League West Division. Arizona had the best one-two pitching combination in the majors: Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson, who combined for 43 victories. Outfielder Luis Gonzalez slugged 57 home runs. They finished the regular season with a record of 92-70, which was good enough for the division title. In the playoffs, they won their NLDS matchup vs. St. Louis on a walk-off hit by Tony Womack. They defeated the Braves in five games in the NLCS. In the World Series, they won a dramatic seven-game series against the New York Yankees on a walk-off hit by Gonzalez, against Yankees closer Mariano Rivera. The Arizona Diamondbacks became the fastest expansion franchise in Major League history to win a World Series title in just their fourth season. The championship remains the only one won by an Arizona based sports team. Offseaso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National League West
The National League West is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. This division was formed for the 1969 season when the National League expanded to 12 teams by adding the San Diego Padres and the Montreal Expos. For purpose of keeping a regular-season of 162 games, half of the teams were put into the new National League East, East Division and half into the new West Division. Within each division, the teams played 18 games each against their five division mates (90 games), and also 12 games against the teams in the opposite division (72 games), totaling 162 games. Geography Despite the geography, the owners of the Chicago Cubs insisted that their team be placed into the East Division along with the teams in New York City, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Also, the owners of the St. Louis Cardinals wanted that team to be in the same division with their natural rivals of the Cubs. The league could have insisted on a purely geographical alignment like the American League did. But ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |