This Opening Day, rewatch 2001 Diamondbacks postseason games

Thursday was supposed to be Opening Day and a first look at the 2020 Arizona Diamondbacks.

Instead, the start of the season has been delayed in efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The D-backs will have to wait, but fans can go to MLB Vault and other YouTube pages to watch baseball classics.

Among them are three 2001 D-backs postseason games, culminating with Luis Gonzalez’s blooper to give Arizona its first major professional sports championship.

If you want to jump straight into Game 7 of the World Series, feel free. But if you’d rather get some sense of the team before going to the final game, there are two others to start with.

National League Championship Series, Game 1

Two of the greatest pitchers to ever do it took the mound for Game 1 of the D-backs’ series against the Atlanta Braves.

Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux faced off in a game that, with the commercials cut out on the YouTube broadcast, barely exceeded the two-hour mark.

It was the start of a quick series that ended in Arizona winning in five games.

World Series, Game 4

Curt Schilling was spectacular in his second start of the 2001 World Series, which came on three days rest.

D-backs fans probably don’t want to remember what happened after the clock struck midnight and November began.

But this game serves as a reminder to what made New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter so special and can increase emotions before watching Game 7.

World Series, Game 7

Before watching this game between Schilling and Roger Clemens, read this segment from a Chicago Tribune game preview published on Nov. 4, 2001:

In the winter following the 1991 season Clemens offered some unsolicited advice to a young Schilling, who considers it the turning point of his career.

‘I can’t give you any of the expletives that were included in the conversation, so it’s the same boring rehash,’ Schilling said before his Game 1 start.

‘What I thought was going to be kind of a sit-down talk about pitching experience turned out to be an hour-and-a-half butt-chewing from the guy who was in the midst of winning five Cy Youngs. … I had a lot of respect for Roger before the conversation and probably 10 times more after.’

That “turning point” eventually led to the two battling it out for Game 7.

Other D-backs classics available:

Once you finish those and want some more D-backs games, take a look at these from a list published by MLB.com.

May 18, 2004: Randy Johnson’s perfect game

June 25, 2010: Edwin Jackson’s 149-pitch no-hitter

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