The managers of the two clubs, Mike Scioscia of the Angels and Dusty Baker of the Giants, were teammates on the Dodgers from 1980 to 1983, and won a World Series in 1981.

Notable player departures included 2001 midseason acquisition Andrés Galarraga, who departed as a free agent, and Shawn Estes, who was traded to the New York Mets in exchange for Tsuyoshi Shinjo and Desi Relaford.

Notable player acquisitions included Reggie Sanders, a free agent, and David Bell, who the Giants received from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for Desi Relaford and cash.

During the 2002 regular season, the Giants led the NL West standings for most of April and a few days in May; however, by the end of May they had fallen to third place behind the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks.

In the NLCS, the Giants defeated the #3 seed St. Louis Cardinals in five games to advance to the World Series for the 17th time in franchise history.

The most notable personnel change during the offseason was the trade of first baseman Mo Vaughn to the New York Mets in exchange for pitcher Kevin Appier.

Offensively, the team was led by longtime Angels Garret Anderson, Darin Erstad, Troy Glaus and Tim Salmon, as well as relative newcomers Adam Kennedy and David Eckstein.

The Angels spent much of the season trailing the first-place Seattle Mariners and on occasion the Oakland Athletics in the AL West standings.

In the 2002 postseason, the wild-card Angels first faced off against the overall #1 seed and four-time defending American League champion New York Yankees in the ALDS.

Their opponent in the ALCS was the third-seeded Minnesota Twins, who they defeated in five games to advance to the World Series for the first time in franchise history.

Eventual Series MVP Troy Glaus hit two home runs for the Angels, one in the second and another in the sixth off Giants starter Jason Schmidt.

Appier did not last much longer than Ortiz, as he was pulled in the third and replaced by John Lackey, the Angels scheduled starter for Game 4, after surrendering a lead-off home run to Jeff Kent.

After Reggie Sanders struck out, consecutive RBI singles by David Bell and Shawon Dunston gave the Giants a 9–7 lead.

Aaron Fultz relieved Witasick and allowed an RBI single to Anderson to tie the game, but Salmon was thrown out at third to end the inning.

Jay Witasick entered in relief and walked Glaus before allowing RBI singles to Spiezio, Adam Kennedy and Bengie Molina, which increased Anaheim's lead to 8–1.

The Angels added to their lead on Eckstein's RBI single in the sixth off of Aaron Fultz and Erstad's bases-loaded fielder's choice in the eighth off of Scott Eyre.

The Angels struck first in the second on David Eckstein's bases-loaded sacrifice fly, then made it 3–0 next inning on Troy Glaus's two-run home run off of starter Kirk Rueter.

The run was unearned, due to Anaheim catcher Bengie Molina's passed ball during the previous at-bat, allowing J. T. Snow to move to second.

Orlando Palmeiro doubled to lead off the top of the fifth, moved to third on David Eckstein's single and scored on Darin Erstad's sacrifice fly.

Next inning, Shields allowed consecutive one-out singles to J. T. Snow and David Bell, then an error on Tsuyoshi Shinjo's ground ball made it 13–4 Giants.

The rally continued in the eighth inning, as Angels center fielder Darin Erstad hit a leadoff line-drive home run, followed by consecutive singles by Tim Salmon and Garret Anderson.

However, Glaus slugged a double to the left-center field gap over Bonds' head to drive in the tying and go-ahead runs and giving Nen a blown save.

Left fielder Garret Anderson then hit a bases-clearing three-run double to push the Angels to a 4–1 lead and gave San Francisco starter Liván Hernández the loss.

With this win the Angels got rid of the supposed curse on their head stemming from Anaheim Stadium being built on an ancient Indian burial ground.

There would not be another postseason match-up between two California teams until the 2020 National League Division Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, which took place at neutral site (Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas) due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The departure of manager Baker, a season-long feud with Barry Bonds and a desire to be closer to his family's Texas ranch factored into Kent's eventual decision to leave the Giants.

Bonds would enter free agency at the end of the 2007 season for the first time since coming over from Pittsburgh to San Francisco in 1993, but there were no teams interested in signing him.

He retired as one of the greatest players in MLB history to never to win a championship, along with Ted Williams and Ty Cobb, with the back-to-back NLCS trips in 1991-1992 with Pittsburgh and 2002 being his only real shot at a title.

[19][20] The only way Bonds could make the National Baseball Hall of Fame would be through the Veterans Committee, as he lost out to David Ortiz in the 2022 ballot, his 10th and final one.

[21] Dusty Baker received great fan ire for his decision to pull Russ Ortiz in Game 6 with a 5–0 lead and just a few more outs away from clinching San Francisco's first World Series in the city.