The 2002 American League Division Series (ALDS), the opening round of the 2002 American League playoffs, began on Tuesday, October 1, and ended on Sunday, October 6, with the champions of the three AL divisions—along with a "wild card" team—participating in two best-of-five series. The teams were:
- (1) New York Yankees (Eastern Division champion, 103–58) vs. (4) Anaheim Angels (Wild Card, 99–63): Angels win series, 3–1.
- (2) Oakland Athletics (Western Division champion, 103–59) vs. (3) Minnesota Twins (Central Division champion, 94–67): Twins win series, 3–2.
The higher seed (in parentheses) had the home field advantage (Games 1, 2 and 5 at home), which was determined by playing record. The Yankees were not required to make up one remaining game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, potentially allowing the Athletics to tie them for the best record, because they had a 5–4 advantage over Oakland in head-to-head play and thus would win the tiebreaker for home field advantage through the playoffs.
The Division Series saw the wild card-qualifying Angels beat the defending league champion Yankees, and the Twins defeat the Athletics in a startling upset. The Angels and Twins went on to meet in the AL Championship Series (ALCS). The Angels became the American League champion, and defeated the National League champion San Francisco Giants in the 2002 World Series.
Famous quotes containing the words american, league, division and/or series:
“After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“I am not impressed by the Ivy League establishments. Of course they graduate the best—it’s all they’ll take, leaving to others the problem of educating the country. They will give you an education the way the banks will give you money—provided you can prove to their satisfaction that you don’t need it.”
—Peter De Vries (b. 1910)
“For a small child there is no division between playing and learning; between the things he or she does “just for fun” and things that are “educational.” The child learns while living and any part of living that is enjoyable is also play.”
—Penelope Leach (20th century)
“As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both before and after.”
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930)