For the first time since 2017, the Arizona Diamondbacks find themselves in the postseason. They lost 88 games last year but made a few key offseason moves to prove that they were a team on the rise.
They added Evan Longoria, Lourdes Gurriel Jr, and Gabriel Moreno in the winter and made some key moves at the deadline to get ready for the postseason. Now, Arizona is set to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS, just as they did in 2017. That year, the Dodgers swept the series.
Obviously, the D-Backs were not the ones to emerge victorious in the Fall Classic, as they were eliminated by the Dodgers. Arizona is one of the few expansion teams to have won the World Series.
When was the last time the Diamondbacks won the World Series?
The Diamondbacks won the World Series in 2001, more than 20 years ago.
But now is a good time to look back at that 2001 team and recall just how good they were that year. They won 92 games and captured the NL West title, while also earning the second seed in the National League.
That team had stars such as Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson, Tony Womack, Reggie Sanders, Luis Gonzalez, Steve Finley, Mark Grace, Matt Williams, and Craig Counsell just to name a few. So obviously, it was a very good team.
They didn't click right away, as they were 15-15 after a loss on May 5 and mired in fourth place in the NL West. But they got hot from there and reached the postseason.
Their first test was a date with the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS, who had earned the Wild Card in the National League. Back then, there were only two Wild Card teams, one per league. The Cards had finished tied with the Houston Astros for first in the NL Central at 93-69, which was the best record in the National League.
However, Arizona had home-field advantage because the Astros had won the season series against the Cardinals and therefore were granted the NL Central title. Arizona and St. Louis split the first four games, with Counsell providing some power in Game 3 of the series.
But in Game 5, it was Arizona who came out on top, as they won on future Cardinal Tony Womack's walk-off single to advance to the NLCS, where they would meet the Atlanta Braves.
In that series, Counsell got hot again and hit .381 with a .905 OPS. He also had four RBI as the D-Backs took care of the Braves in five games. Counsell earned MVP honors for the series.
In the World Series, they faced the powerhouse that was the New York Yankees. New York had won three consecutive World Series titles and was shooting for their fourth. They had a young Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Roger Clemens, Tino Martinez, Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, Alfonso Soriano, Paul O'Neill, Bernie Williams, and Scott Brosius.
Arizona took a 2-0 lead into Yankee Stadium, but the Yankees battled back and won Game 3 behind a dominant effort by Clemens. The Diamondbacks experienced heartbreak in back-to-back games after that. They were one strike away from taking a 3-1 lead before the Yankees rallied to tie the game and win it on Derek Jeter's walk-off home run.
That home run gave Jeter the nickname, "Mr. November," as the game went into the wee hours of the morning on November 1.
The following night, Brosius tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Yankees new life after Arizona had once again crept to within a strike of a win. Alfonso Soriano won the game to put the Yanks up 3-2.
After a beatdown by the Diamondbacks in Game 6, the series reached its thrilling conclusion. It was a pitching matchup between Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling.
Schilling took a shutout into the eighth inning, protecting a 1-0 lead. But Soriano struck again with a two-run homer to put New York on top. Still, the D-Backs were not done, and they set the stage for a rally against Mariano Rivera.
After Danny Bautista tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, Luis Gonzalez picked up the game-winning hit to deliver Arizona its first and only World Series title in what was truly one of the most unforgettable moments in World Series history.