2001 American League Championship Series

Seattle Mariners vs. New York Yankees

New York won the series, 4–1.

Game 1

Wednesday, October 17, 2001 at Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington

Game 1's starting date was the latest ever for a League Championship series. The Yankees took a 1–0 lead on a Chuck Knoblauch single that scored Jorge Posada in the second off of Aaron Sele, then increased it to 3–0 on a Paul O'Neill two-run home run in the fourth. The Mariners got on the board on a John Olerud groundout that scored Edgar Martínez in the fifth off of Andy Pettitte. The score remained 3–1 until the ninth when the Yankees increased their lead to 4–1 off of Jose Paniagua on a David Justice single that scored Alfonso Soriano, who singled and stole second. The Mariners got that run back in the bottom of the inning when Mariano Rivera threw a wild pitch to Bret Boone that scored Ichiro Suzuki, who doubled with one-out and went to third on another wild pitch, but Rivera retired Boone and the next batter, Edgar Martínez, to end the game.

Game 2

Thursday, October 18, 2001 at Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington

In Game 2, the Yankees took a 2–0 lead in the second against Freddy García on a Scott Brosius double that scored Tino Martinez and Jorge Posada, who singled and walked, respectively. Brosius would then score on a Chuck Knoblauch single two batters later to make it 3–0 Yankees. The Mariners responded in the fourth on a two-run home run from Stan Javier off of Mike Mussina after Mike Cameron was hit by a pitch to make it a one-run game. But neither team scored thereafter and the Yankees took a 2–0 series lead to New York City.

This remains the last MLB post-season game played in Seattle as of 2018.

Game 3

Saturday, October 20, 2001 at Yankee Stadium (I) in Bronx, New York

The Yankees jumped to a 2–0 lead in the first on a Bernie Williams two-run home run off of Jamie Moyer after David Justice walked. But they did not score again until the eighth on a David Justice RBI single off of Jose Paniagua. Orlando Hernández pitched four shutout innings before letting the Mariners load the bases on two walks and a single in the fifth. Bret Boone's single scored two to tie the game. Next inning, John Olerud's lead off home run put the Mariners up 3−2, their first lead in the series. After allowing a single and walk, Hernández was relieved by Mike Stanton. An error allowed another run to score and put runners on second and third. After David Bell flied out, Ichiro Suzuki was intentionally walked to load the bases and Mark McLemore cleared them with a triple. Mark Wohlers relieved Stanton and gave up a two-run home run to Boone to make it 9−2. Next inning, with runners on first and third on a walk and error, Bell's single scored Cameron. Jay Witasick relieved Wohlers and, after getting two outs, allowed an RBI single to Boone. Next inning, Stan Javier hit a leadoff single, moved to third on two ground outs, and scored on Bell's single off of Witasick. In the ninth, Witasick allowed a one-out home run to Jay Buhner, then a triple to Al Martin, who scored on Olerud's single. John Halama retired the Yankees in order in the bottom of the inning as the Mariners cruised to a 14–3 win and a guaranteed Game 5.

Game 4

Sunday, October 21, 2001 at Yankee Stadium (I) in Bronx, New York

Game 4 remained scoreless until Bret Boone hit a home run off Yankees reliever Ramiro Mendoza in the top of the eighth to give the Mariners a 1–0 lead, but the Yankees responded in the bottom of the inning with a Bernie Williams home run off Arthur Rhodes to tie the game. Mariano Rivera pitched a scoreless ninth and the Yankees won the game 3–1 in the bottom of the inning on an Alfonso Soriano two-run home run after Scott Brosius singled off Kazuhiro Sasaki to take a 3–1 series lead. Before the eighth, each team only had one hit in the game, John Olerud's leadoff single in the fourth off of Roger Clemens for the Mariners and Tino Martinez's ground-rule double off of Norm Charlton in the sixth for the Yankees. The Mariners issued 10 walks while the Yankees issued five.

Game 5

Monday, October 22, 2001 at Yankee Stadium (I) in Bronx, New York

In the bottom of the third inning of Game 5, an error by Mariner third baseman David Bell allowed Scott Brosius to reach base. Alfonso Soriano then singled and both men advanced a base on Chuck Knoblauch's sacrifice bunt. Derek Jeter's sacrifice fly and David Justice's double scored a run each, then Bernie Williams capped the scoring with a two-run home run off Aaron Sele, all four runs unearned. Paul O'Neill homered in the fourth to put the Yankees on top 5–0. In the sixth, Mariners reliever John Halama allowed three straight leadoff singles to load the bases. Joel Piñeiro relieved him and struck out Brosius, but then threw a wild pitch to Soriano to let one run score. Soriano walked to reload the bases before Knoblauch's single, Jeter's walk, and Justice's single scored a run each. The Mariners got their only three runs of the game in the seventh when they loaded the bases on three singles with one out, then a single by Bell scored two followed by a single by Ichiro Suzuki scoring another off of Andy Pettitte. In the bottom of the eighth, Tino Martinez hit a three-run home run off of José Paniagua and Mariano Rivera pitched a scoreless ninth as the Yankees cruised to a 12–3 win to advance to the World Series for the fourth straight year.