In late October 2000, New York City was the epicenter of the baseball world, as the New York Yankees and New York Mets faced off in the 2000 World Series.
With the two teams set to face-off in a three-game series at Citi Field beginning on Friday night (watch Game 2 of the series on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app), here’s a look-back at the 2000 Subway Series.
Yankees Win Game 1 In Extras
Irony from the jump.
The Mets sent Al Leiter, who spent the first two-plus seasons of his MLB career with the Yankees (1987-89), to the mound for Game 1 in Yankee Stadium, and the left-hander carved up his old team the first two times through the order.
Leiter kept the Yankees off the board through the first five innings, giving up just four baserunners on three hits and one walk. Then, the Yankees broke the ice in the bottom of the sixth inning.
After two of the first three runners of the inning got on base, left fielder David Justice laced a two-run double to left-center field, giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead. With that said, after six scoreless innings from Andy Pettitte, the Mets got to the Yankees’ left-hander in the top of the seventh. After back-to-back singles and a walk, pinch hitter Bubba Trammell leveled the score at 2-all for the Mets with a two-run single. Two batters later, Pettitte was relieved by right-hander Jeff Nelson, who gave up a go-ahead single to second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo.
The Yankees didn’t plate a run in the seventh or eighth innings, but they managed to send the game to extra innings on a Chuck Knoblauch sacrifice fly in the ninth. Both teams went scoreless in the 10th and 11th innings, with the Yankees stranding two runners in both innings and also doing so after tying the game in the ninth.
In the bottom of the 12th, the Yankees finally got the winning run home, as second baseman José Vizcaíno hit a walk-off single with two outs in the inning.
The 2000 World Series marked the first time that two New York baseball teams met in the World Series since 1956, when the Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in seven games. (Photo by Al Tielemans/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (SetNumber: X61664 TK1 R13 F14)
Vizcaíno finished with a game-high four hits for the Yankees, who won 4-3.
A Contentious Game 2
Yeah, drama was aplenty in Game 2.
In the top of the first, Mets star Mike Piazza broke his bat on a foul ball, and part of the bat went to Yankees starter Roger Clemens, who hurled that piece of the bat down the first-base line where Piazza was standing at the time. Both benches cleared temporarily, but no one was ejected, and the inning resumed moments later, with Piazza grounding out to end the inning.
The Yankees went 4-2 against the Mets in the 2000 regular season. (Photo by John Iacono /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Set Number: X61660 TK2 R7 F28)
That skirmish has continually distracted from the memory of Clemens dominating the Mets in Game 2 from start to finish. The eventual seven-time Cy Young Award winner pitched eight scoreless innings, posting nine strikeouts and only surrendering two baserunners (two hits).
As for the Yankees’ bats, they went right to work on Mets left-hander Mike Hampton, with first baseman Tino Martinez and catcher Jorge Posada each driving in a run on a single in the bottom of the first. Third baseman Scott Brosius then led off the bottom of the second with a solo home run. A fifth-inning Paul O’Neill single, a seventh-inning sacrifice fly from Brosius and an eighth-inning RBI single from Martinez — who, along with Yankees star shortstop Derek Jeter, had a game-high three hits — would give the Yankees a 6-0 lead entering the ninth inning.
But then it got dicey for the Yankees — like, wildly dicey.
Nelson began the ninth inning for the Yankees and proceeded to give up a single, a two-run home run to Piazza and then another single, forcing manager Joe Torre to go to Mariano Rivera, who also struggled. While Rivera got out two of the first four batters that he faced, MLB’s eventual all-time saves leader (652) proceeded to give up a three-run homer to center fielder Jay Payton, making it a 6-5 game.
All that said, Rivera got infielder Kurt Abbott to strikeout looking to end it, with the Yankees evading a catastrophe, winning 6-5 and taking a 2-0 series lead to Queens.
The Mets Wake Up
One could argue that the ninth inning of Game 2 gave the Mets some momentum that they capitalized on in Game 3.
The Metropolitans struck first in Game 3, as third baseman Robin Ventura hit a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the second. Granted, the Yankees tied the game with a third-inning RBI double from Justice and took the lead in the fourth on an RBI triple from O’Neill.
Mets first baseman Todd Zeile evened the score at 2-all in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI double, and they took the lead for good in the eighth on an RBI double from left fielder Benny Agbayani. Later in the inning, Trammell drove in another run on a sacrifice fly, and Armando Benítez shut the door on a Game 3 win for the Mets in the top of the ninth.
The Mets won 94 games in the 2000 regular season, while the Yankees won 87 games. AFP PHOTO/Don EMMERT (Photo credit should read DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images)
As for the pitching performances, right-hander Rick Reed got through six innings for the Mets, while the Yankees stayed with Orlando Hernández (AKA “El Duque”) through 7 ⅓ innings and had him throw 134 pitches; the right-hander was credited for all four earned runs.
The Yankees Send The Mets Back To Bed
The air in Shea Stadium evaporated on the first pitch.
Jeter smacked the first pitch thrown by Mets’ starter Bobby Jones into the left-field seats, giving the Bronx Bombers the early edge. The following inning, Brosius drove in a run on a sacrifice fly, with the Yankees tacking on a third run in the third on an RBI ground out from second baseman Luis Sojo.
Those three runs would be all the Yankees needed.
Now, the Mets did promptly respond, as Piazza hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the third, but it would be the last runs scored in a 3-2 Yankees victory.
Derek Jeter hit .317 in the 2000 MLB playoffs. (Photo by Al Tielemans /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Set Number: X61704 TK4 R13 F24 )
For the Yankees, starter Denny Neagle lasted just 4 ⅔ innings, but David Cone, Nelson, Mike Stanton and Rivera combined for 4 ⅓ scoreless innings of relief and gave up just three total baserunners (two hits and one walk) — and Rivera got a two-inning save.
Yankees Pull Off The 3-Peat
The Yankees didn’t just win the 2000 Subway Series: They won it in Queens.
Center fielder Bernie Williams brought in the first run of the game on a solo home run in the top of the second, but the Mets scored two runs in the bottom half of the inning on an infield error off the bat of Leiter and then an infield hit by Agbayani. Later, “The Captain” evened the score at 2-all, as Jeter hit a solo homer in the sixth.
The Mets rode with Leiter until the cows came home, as the southpaw was still on the mound with two outs in the ninth inning, but Sojo delivered the final blow for the Yankees, hitting a go-ahead, two-run single, which knocked Leiter out of the game; he threw 142 pitches. Meanwhile, the Yankees got seven innings from Pettitte, who threw 129 pitches.
Rivera closed out Game 5 for the Yankees in the bottom of the ninth, putting a bow on the first three-peat in MLB since the Oakland Athletics accomplished the feat from 1972-74, and it remains the sport’s most recent three-peat.
The Yankees won four World Series in five years from 1996-2000. (Photo by Ken Sawchuk/Newsday RM via Getty Images)
Jeter was the 2000 World Series MVP, as the Hall of Fame shortstop — who’s sixth in MLB history with 3,465 career hits — went 9 for 22, hit two home runs and finished the series with a .409/.480/.864 slash line. Meanwhile, O’Neill finished the Subway Series with nine hits and posted a .474/.545/.789 slash line; Brosius finished with a .308/.389/.538 slash line; Martinez hit .364; Pettitte pitched a combined 13 ⅔ innings over his two starts, recording a 1.98 ERA.
For the Mets, Zeile had a team-high eight hits, while Piazza had two home runs and a series-high four RBIs; Leiter pitched a combined 15 ⅔ innings.
A five-game, best-of-seven series is what it is: a convincing series win for the victors. With that said, all five games in the Subway Series were decided by two or fewer runs, the Yankees out-scored the Mets 19-16, and it marks the only time that the two teams have squared off in the World Series.
This was the closest thing the New York sports world has received since the Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants did battle in countless World Series before the Dodgers and Giants moved to the West Coast.