2001 Oakland Athletics season

March 2026 November 2013 Oakland Athletics 2001 American League Wild Card winners American League West Network Associates Coliseum Oakland, California 102–60 (.630) 2nd Stephen Schott & Kenneth Hofmann Billy Beane Art Howe KICU-TVFSN Bay Area(Ray Fosse, Greg Papa) KABL(Bill King, Ken Korach, Ray Fosse) The 2001 Oakland Athletics 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 as the Athletics won 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 poor 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 one of the most dominant second halves in modern MLB history. Over their final 81 regular season games, the team 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 were not able to catch up with Seattle (which won an AL-record 116 games), but their 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.https://www.newspapers.com/article/usa-today-season-of-accomplishments/202534553/ Season of accomplishments USA Today Sports 4C October 9, 2001 July 27, 2026 Newspapers.com 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 thrown out at the plate after a relay throw was flipped by Derek Jeter to Jorge Posada; they lost the series to the Yankees in five games. At the end of the season, Oakland lost Giambi, Damon, and Isringhausen to free agency; this set the stage for the events portrayed in Michael Lewis' bestselling book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game and its film adaptation. Offseason November 17, 2000: Randy Velarde was traded by the Athletics to the Texas Rangers for Aaron Harang and Ryan Cullen (minors).Aaron Harang at Baseball Reference January 8, 2001: Ben Grieve was traded by the Athletics to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and Ángel Berroa and A. J. Hinch were traded by the Athletics to the Kansas City Royals as part of a three-team trade. The Royals sent Johnny Damon and Mark Ellis to the Athletics, and the Devil Rays sent Cory Lidle to the Athletics. The Devil Rays sent Roberto Hernández to the Royals.Johnny Damon at Baseball Reference Regular season Season standings Oakland Athletics Record vs. opponents OAK Notable transactions June 5, 2001: 2001 Major League Baseball draft Neal Cotts was drafted by the Athletics in the 2nd round. Player signed June 13, 2001.Neal Cotts at Baseball Reference Dan Johnson was drafted by the Athletics in the 7th round. Player signed June 18, 2001.Dan Johnson at Baseball Reference July 25, 2001: José Ortiz, Todd Belitz and Mario Encarnación were traded by the Athletics to the Colorado Rockies for Jermaine Dye.José Ortiz at Baseball Reference Roster 2001 Oakland Athletics Roster Pitchers 53 Chad Bradford 49 Mike Fyhrie 19 Mark Guthrie 32 Chad Harville 31 Gil Heredia 37 Erik Hiljus 15 Tim Hudson 44 Jason Isringhausen 21 Cory Lidle 52 Mike Magnante 33 T.J. Mathews 45 Jim Mecir 20 Mark Mulder 29 Jeff Tam 51 Luis Vizcaíno 75 Barry Zito Catchers 13 Sal Fasano 55 Ramón Hernández 24,28 Greg Myers 17 Tom Wilson Infielders 30 Andy Abad 14 Mark Bellhorn  3 Eric Chavez 16 Jason Giambi 11 Frank Menechino  2 José Ortiz  9 Olmedo Sáenz  2 F. P. Santangelo  4 Miguel Tejada Outfielders 22 Eric Byrnes 28 Ryan Christenson  8 Johnny Damon 26,24 Jermaine Dye  5 Ron Gant  7 Jeremy Giambi 30 Robin Jennings 12 Terrence Long 13 Billy McMillon  6 Adam Piatt 26 Rob Ryan 23 Mario Valdez Other batters  5 John Jaha Manager 18 Art Howe Coaches 41 Thad Bosley (Hitting) 35 Brad Fischer (Bullpen) 39 Ken Macha (Bench) 47 Rick Peterson (Pitching) 48 Mike Quade (First Base) 38 Ron Washington (Third Base) 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 Jason Giambi, Silver Slugger Award Farm system Minor League Baseball 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 External links 2001 Oakland Athletics at Baseball Reference 2001 Oakland Athletics at Baseball Almanac Johnson Lloyd Wolff Miles The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball 3rd Durham, North Carolina Baseball America 2007 978-1-932391-17-6 Category:Oakland Athletics seasons Oakland Athletics season Oak Category:2000s in Oakland, California Category:American League Wild Card winner seasons