2002 World Series

2002 World Series
2002 World Series
Dates	October 19–27
Venue	Edison International Field (Anaheim); Pacific Bell Park (San Francisco)
MVP	Troy Glaus (Anaheim)
Umpires	Jerry Crawford (crew chief), Ángel Hernández, Tim Tschida, Mike Winters, Mike Reilly, Tim McClelland
Broadcast
Television	Fox (United States); MLB International (International)
TV announcers	Joe Buck and Tim McCarver (Fox); Gary Thorne and Ken Singleton (MLB International)
Radio	ESPN; KLAC (ANA) ; KNBR (SF)
Radio announcers	Jon Miller and Joe Morgan (ESPN); Rory Markas and Terry Smith (KLAC) ; Duane Kuiper, Joe Angel and Mike Krukow (KNBR)
ALCS	Anaheim Angels over Minnesota Twins (4–1)
NLCS	San Francisco Giants over St. Louis Cardinals (4–1)
World Series program

The 2002 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB)'s 2002 season. The 98th edition of the World Series,^[1] it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL) champion Anaheim Angels and the National League (NL) champion San Francisco Giants; the Angels defeated the Giants, four games to three, to win their first, and, to date, only World Series championship. The series was played from October 19–27, 2002, at Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco and Edison International Field of Anaheim in Anaheim.

This was the first World Series since the 1995 inception of the wild card in MLB (and the last until 2014) in which both wild card teams would vie for the title. The Angels finished the regular season in second place in the AL West division. They defeated the four-time defending AL champion New York Yankees, three games to one, in the best-of-five AL Division Series, and in doing so won their first postseason series in franchise history. They then defeated the Minnesota Twins, four games to one, in the best-of-seven AL Championship Series to advance to the World Series, another first in franchise history. The Giants finished the regular season in second place in the NL West division. They defeated the Atlanta Braves in the NL Division Series and the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Championship Series to advance to the World Series, giving the team their 20th NL pennant and 17th appearance in the Fall Classic but only their third since moving from New York City to San Francisco in 1958.

The series was the fourth World Series played between two teams from California, after 1974, 1988, and 1989, and the latest Fall Classic that featured teams from the same city or state (since 2000 between cross-town rivals Mets & Yankees). Barry Bonds, Reggie Sanders, and J. T. Snow each hit home runs to help propel the Giants to win Game one. Game two was a high-scoring affair that the Angels ultimately won on Tim Salmon's eighth-inning home run. The Angels routed the Giants in Game three, but lost Game four on a tie-breaking eighth-inning single by the Giants' David Bell. The Giants brought the Angels to the brink of elimination by winning Game five in a blowout. The Giants were eight outs away from winning the Series in Game six, but late game home runs by Scott Spiezio and Darin Erstad, as well as a two-RBI double by Troy Glaus helped the Angels overcome a five-run, seventh-inning deficit to win. A three-run double by Garret Anderson was the difference in the Angels' Game seven win to clinch the series. Glaus was named the World Series Most Valuable Player. The two teams set a record for combined most home runs in a World Series (21), which stood until 2017.

^ "2002 World Series". Baseball-Reference. Retrieved January 6, 2014.

[baseball-reference1-1] "2002 World Series". Baseball-Reference. Retrieved January 6, 2014.

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