2002 ALCS

Lore & Background

The Twins took a 1–0 series lead with a Game 1 win at the Metrodome, but the Angels won the next four games to capture the pennant. Game 5 featured a dramatic back-and-forth, including three home runs by Angels second baseman Adam Kennedy. The Angels' 13–5 victory in Game 5 clinched their first American League pennant in franchise history.

In Their Own Story

Game five. The Metrodome hums at a frequency only a Twins fan can feel—that particular vibration of a crowd that has waited eleven years to matter again. Santana steps to the rubber, his left hand tucked, the dome lights catching the sheen of his cap. The Angels' batter squares up. Santana's delivery is a single fluid motion, the ball leaving his fingers with a sound like a snapped whip. Strike three. The crowd detonates. In the clubhouse, Hunter is already lacing his spikes for tomorrow, jaw set, eyes forward. They know the Giants are waiting in the next round. They know the road gets steeper. But tonight, under the artificial sky of the dome, the Twins are alive again, and that is enough to make the pain of what comes next almost worth it.

Reader's Guide

The series was played from October 8 to October 13, 2002. Games 1 and 2 were at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis; Games 3–5 were at Edison International Field of Anaheim in Anaheim, California. The Angels won the series 4–1.

Did You Know?

• Until 2023, Game 1 was the last postseason game the Twins won at home.
• This was the only AL Championship Series between 1998 through 2004 to not feature the Yankees.
• The Angels went on to win the 2002 World Series against the San Francisco Giants.
• The Twins released David Ortiz during the off-season on December 16, 2002, as a cost-cutting move.