2001 Yankees

The 2001 New York Yankees went 95-65 and won a fourth straight AL pennant -- then lost the World Series to Arizona in seven games on a bloop single that still makes me sick to my stomach. This was the season that ended the dynasty. Not with a whimper, not with some slow fade, but with Mariano Rivera on the mound in the ninth inning of Game 7 and a dying-quail single off the bat of Luis Gonzalez that barely reached the outfield grass. If you're a Yankees fan of a certain age, you don't need me to tell you how that felt. You already know.

But here's the thing about the 2001 season -- it wasn't just an ending. It was maybe the most emotionally loaded year in franchise history, and I'm including 1927 in that conversation.

The Rotation Got Scary

The Yankees signed Mike Mussina away from Baltimore in November 2000 -- a six-year, $88.5 million deal that gave the rotation a legitimate second ace alongside Roger Clemens. And Clemens went completely nuclear. The Rocket finished 20-3, became the first pitcher in MLB history to start a season 20-1, and won his sixth Cy Young Award. At 39 years old. (The man was basically made of rage and fastballs.)

Mussina went 17-11 with a 3.15 ERA, and on September 2 at Fenway Park, he came within one strike of a freakin' perfect game before Carl Everett blooped a single to left-center. That near-miss still haunts me. Andy Pettitte went 15-10 with a 3.99 ERA and would later win ALCS MVP. And Mariano Rivera saved 50 games with a 2.34 ERA, because Mo didn't take years off.

The Lineup Held Up

Derek Jeter hit .311 with 21 homers and kept doing Jeter things at shortstop. Bernie Williams put together another quietly excellent year -- .307, 26 homers, 94 RBI -- the kind of season that would've made someone else famous but for Bernie was just Tuesday. Jorge Posada hit .277 with 22 homers from behind the plate, and Tino Martinez smacked 34 homers with 113 RBI.

And then there was Paul O'Neill. His final season in pinstripes. He hit .267 with 21 homers and quietly told a few beat writers during the summer that he'd retire after the year -- but he didn't want a fuss. (That's the most O'Neill thing I've ever heard. The guy played every game like he owed the baseball money, and he wanted to slip out the back door.)

September 11

I don't know how to write about this part without it feeling inadequate, so I'll just tell you what happened.

The Yankees were scheduled to play the White Sox at the Stadium on September 11. Baseball shut down. The club didn't play for 16 days. When they returned to action on September 18 at Comiskey Park in Chicago, the game felt different -- like it mattered and didn't matter at the same time. Even at Fenway Park, signs appeared reading "We are all Yankees." Boston fans gave New York standing ovations. (I still can't wrap my head around that one.)

The Yankees came home to the Bronx on September 25. "God Bless America" was sung during the seventh-inning stretch for the first time. It's been sung at every home game since. That night, the Stadium felt like the only place in the world that made sense.

The 2000 season Yankees were "just" a baseball team. The 2001 Yankees became something else entirely.

Down 0-2 in Oakland

The ALDS against the Oakland A's -- the early Moneyball squad -- started terribly. Oakland won Games 1 and 2 at home, and the Yankees looked cooked. But this was a team that had won three straight World Series. They didn't panic.

Game 3 in Oakland changed everything. Jeter's flip play -- the one where he sprinted across the entire diamond, caught an errant relay throw near the first-base line, and flipped the ball backhand to Posada at the plate -- saved a 1-0 win and might be the greatest defensive play in postseason history. Jeremy Giambi didn't slide. The Yankees didn't lose again. They took three straight to win the series 3-2.

The 116-Win Mariners? Done in Five.

Seattle had won 116 regular-season games -- an AL record -- and everyone expected a war in the ALCS. They got a beatdown instead. The Yankees won Games 1 and 2 in Seattle, took Game 3 at the Stadium in a blowout, dropped Game 4, then destroyed the Mariners 12-3 in Game 5. Series over. Four consecutive pennants.

Pettitte won ALCS MVP. The 116-win Mariners went home in five games. Sometimes the postseason is cruel like that.

The World Series That Broke Us

I've written about Game 7 separately because it deserves its own space to hurt. But the whole series was insane. Arizona demolished the Yankees in Games 1 and 2 at Bank One Ballpark -- 9-1, then 4-0 behind Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling. The home team won every single game in this series. Every one.

Then the games came to the Bronx, 49 days after September 11, and magic happened. In Game 4, Tino Martinez hit a two-run, game-tying homer off Byung-Hyun Kim with two outs in the ninth. Jeter walked it off with a homer after midnight -- Mr. November was born. Game 5? Same closer, same story. Scott Brosius launched a game-tying blast off Kim in the ninth, and the Yankees won in 12 innings. Back-to-back ninth-inning comebacks in the World Series. I still don't fully believe those games happened.

Arizona blew out the Yankees 15-2 in Game 6 to force a seventh game. And in Game 7, with the Yankees clinging to a 2-1 lead in the ninth, Mo took the mound. Mark Grace singled. Rivera threw an errant throw on a bunt. Tony Womack doubled to tie it. Craig Counsell got hit by a pitch. And Luis Gonzalez -- who'd hit 57 homers during the regular season -- lifted a bloop single over a drawn-in Jeter that barely found grass. Diamondbacks 3, Yankees 2. Series over. Dynasty over.

Key Moments

That year meant more than any year I'd ever played. It wasn't just about us anymore.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did the Yankees win the 2001 World Series?

No. The Yankees lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks 4 games to 3. Luis Gonzalez hit a walk-off bases-loaded bloop single off Mariano Rivera in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 on November 4, 2001. It ended the Yankees' streak of three consecutive championships.

What was the Yankees' record in 2001?

The 2001 Yankees went 95-65, finishing first in the AL East by 13.5 games over the Boston Red Sox. They won their fourth consecutive AL pennant before losing the World Series to Arizona.

When did the Yankees start playing God Bless America?

"God Bless America" has been sung during the seventh-inning stretch at every Yankees home game since September 25, 2001 -- the first home game at Yankee Stadium after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

How many consecutive pennants did the Yankees win?

The Yankees won four consecutive American League pennants from 1998 to 2001. They won the World Series in 1998, 1999, and 2000 before losing to Arizona in 2001.