2001 Arizona Diamondbacks

We're back, and hoping you're enjoying another entertaining season of March Madness! In the spirit of the crazy upsets of March, let's take a look back at one of the great World Series Cinderella teams: the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks! Sure, this team won only three fewer games than the Yankee team they faced in the World Series, but New York was coming off three straight titles. The Yankees were a dynasty, a seemingly unstoppable juggernaut that would cruise through another postseason. Arizona was still a fledgling franchise, only in its fourth season. In fact, the Yankees had won a World Series in literally every season Arizona had participated in.

However, Arizona took home the title in seven games. The dramatic walk-off single by superstar Luis Gonzalez in the ninth inning of Game 7 is consistently placed in "Greatest Moments" countdowns. The strength of this team was its starting pitching, behind two Cy Young candidates: Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling. In the heart of the steroid era, it was these two hurlers that got the DBacks through the NL. In the end, clutch hitting and workmanlike starts from these two, along with gutsy pitching from their only viable reliever, Kim, was enough to squeak by the mighty Yankees and finally break the hold New York had on baseball. Enjoy this look back!