5-22-22 We move on to 1997. 1997 is the inaugural season for Baseball inter-league play. The Colorado Rockies led the league in attendance with 3,888,453, an average of just over 48,000 per game. The expansion clubs are doing well. The Florida Marlins end up winning the World Series in seven games over the Cleveland Indians. With the success of the last expansion teams Baseball is poised to expand again as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks hold an expansion draft in November. On the field Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens dominated on the mound while Larry Walker and Ken Griffey Jr won MVP's. Sit back, take a few moments and relive the memories of"MLB Baseball's Seasons, 1997".
5-29-22 Our next season is 1998. Boy a lot happened in 1998. First we have the most recent expansion in baseball as the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays join the league. Milwaukee moves from the AL to the NL to facilitate the new teams. We are near the peak of the sterioid era and Roger Maris' season home run record stood no chance. Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa hook up in a epic home run chase with McGuire finishing with 70, Sosa 66. Ken Griffey Jr also hit 56 and Greg Vaughn 50. That's the time ever with 4 guys with 50 or more. We had exciting playoff races with the Cubs needing a one-game playoff victory over San Francisco to take the wild card spot. The New York Yankees won 114 regular season games and ultimately the World Series by sweeping the San Diego Padres. Take a break and enjoy a look back at the historic season with "MLB: The 1998 Season".
6-5-22 Up next is the 1999 season. The home runs are still flying out at record paces. In 1998 the record was set with 5,064 total home runs. In 1999 that record was shattered with 5,528 total home runs. Also, 1999 saw the first season ever where a team scored 1,000 runs as the Cleveland Indians score an amazing 1,009 runs. On the flip side only 193 shutouts were recorded in 2,427 league games. The juiced offensive players are dominating. We did see one pitching feat, Pedro Martinez won the pitching triple crown, 23 wins, 2.07 era, 313 strikeouts. That stands a little higher when you consider the monster hitters that season. Re-live the fireworks of the 1999 season with a look back at the year with "MLB: '99 A Season of Heroes".
6-12-22 We now move to the new millennium and the 2000 baseball season. Competitive was the word for baseball in 2000. No team won or lost 100 games for the season. I guess you would also have to add "home run" as another word as another new total home run record was set. 5,693 homers were hit. Ten team hit at least 200 homers, another record at the time. Baseball was also changing. The separate American and National League offices were dissolved and baseball now operated under one office of Major League Baseball. The separate American and National League umpires were also merged allow umps to officiate all games. On the field we got a subway series as the New York Yankee's defeated the New York Mets for the Yanks third straight title. I hope you enjoy this look back at the 2000 season with "MLB Baseball Seasons: 2000".
6-19-22 Our next season is the 2001 baseball season. 2001 was an interesting season. The Seattle Mariners had a historic season achieving record 116 win season. They fell short of the World Series though as the New York Yankees won the AL again. In the National League Barry Bonds had his greatest season breaking the single season home run record with 73, 177 walks, an on base percentage of .515 and a slugging of .863. That's an OPS of 1.378, not too shabby. In the desert the Arizona Diamondbacks used a couple of work horse pitchers and timely hitting to win the National League title and ultimately defeat the Yankees in seven games for the World Series title. Of course this all happened as the nation suffered the 9-11 attack which delayed the baseball season several days. Because of that the World Series was pushed into November for the first time. Sit back, relax and enjoy this look back at the 2001 season with "MLB Baseball Seasons: 2001".
6-26-22 We now move on to the 2002 baseball season. I could not find a video that recapped the 2002 season but I did find one that gave the highlight of the 2002 post season. Nothing really remarkable happened during the 2002 season. The post season was exciting though. The wild card Anaheim Angles defeated the wild card San Francisco Giants in the World Series. I hope video brings back some memories about the 2002 post season "2002 MLB Postseason Highlights".