Microsoft Baseball 2001 uses the Baseball Mogul engine,[1][2][3] which requires players to act as general manager of an MLB franchise, forcing players to deal with realistic payroll constraints and city-related issues along the way.

[4][5] It was developed and published by Microsoft for Windows.

[7] The cover art features Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra.

[8] Aaron Curtiss, writing for Knight Ridder, praised the game's simplicity but considered it inferior to Sammy Sosa High Heat Baseball 2001.

[17] Peter Olafson of GamePro wrote that the game "feels unfinished--more like a step in the right direction than a destination.