Mariners ride historic season, Yankes defend title streak
Mariners ride historic season, Yankes defend title streak
Reuters, New York
The Seattle Mariners hope to cap a historic season with their first-ever World Series berth and the New York Yankees open defense of a three-year championship run in the American League playoffs this week.
The Mariners host the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday afternoon and the Yankees greet the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday night at the start of their best-of-five first-round matchups.
Seattle equaled the 95-year-old record of 116 victories in a season set by the Chicago Cubs.
"What we've done here was unimaginable when the season started," manager Lou Piniella said.
The Mariners won 10 of their last 12 games even though they had the Western Division sewn up months ago.
"You can see the demeanor of the players in the clubhouse," Piniella said after the M's failed to reap a record 117th victory. "They weren't happy that they lost today and that is why we won 116 games. They're not happy when they lose."
Seattle are also the first team since the 1948 Cleveland Indians to lead its league in batting, fielding and pitching.
The M's finished 70 games above .500 thanks to a clutch of surprise performers, above all Ichiro Suzuki.
The eight-times Japanese batting champion transferred his talent to American baseball without a hitch, leading the major leagues with a .350 average.
The first Japanese to play an everyday position in the majors never looked like a rookie, showing a leadoff hitter's prowess on the bases by topping the majors with 56 steals and displaying a true right fielder's arm.
The Arizona Diamondbacks host the St. Louis Cardinals and the Atlanta Braves visit the Houston Astros on Tuesday in National League postseason matchups that were not determined until the final day of the 2001 season.
Houston nailed down the Central Division title with Sunday's 9-2 rout of the Cardinals that left both clubs with identical 93- 69 records but gave the Astros the tie-breaking winning record in head-to-head meetings.
"We played poorly the past couple weeks but played great here," Astros manager Larry Dierker said after the crucial win in St. Louis.
The Cardinals had produced a sensational second half of the season, going 50-26 after the All-Star break and 17-5 in their last 22 games, only to suffer a disappointing loss that left them with the wild card berth and a trip to Phoenix.
"It's tough to feel good when we had our hearts set on winning this game today," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said after Sunday's season-ending defeat.
The Cardinals will have to regroup in a hurry against the Diamondbacks as they face the toughest 1-2 starting pitching combination in baseball in Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson.
Johnson, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, went 21-6 with a league-leading 2.49 ERA and 372 strikeouts.
Schilling, who is slated to start Game One, was 22-6 with a 2.98 ERA and 293 strikeouts and led the league with 256 2/3 innings and six complete games.
The Cards will send their own 22-game winner to the mound against Schilling for Tuesday's opener in right-hander Matt Morris (22-8).