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In late October 2000, New York City was the epicenter of the baseball world, as the New York Yankees and the New York Mets faced off in the 2000 World Series.
As the two teams face off in a three-game series at Citi Field starting Friday night (watch Game 2 of the series Saturday at 7:15 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app), here’s a look back at the 2000 Subway Series.
The Yankees win the first game in extras
Irony of the jump.
The Mets sent Al Leiter, who spent more than two seasons of his MLB career with the Yankees (1987-89), to the mound for Game 1 at Yankee Stadium, and the left-hander split his former team the first two times in order.
Leiter kept the Yankees off the board through the first five innings, allowing 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 came on base, left fielder David Justice hit a two-run double to left-center field, giving the Yankees a 2–0 lead. That said, after six scoreless innings from Andy Pettitte, the Mets reached the Yankees left-hander in the top of the seventh. After back-to-back singles and a walk, pinch hitter Bubba Trammell tied the score at 2 for the Mets with a two-run single. Two batters later, Pettitte was relieved by right-hander Jeff Nelson, who gave up a single to second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo.
The Yankees didn’t score a run in the seventh or eighth inning, but they managed to send the game into 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, as second baseman José Vizcaíno singled with two outs in the inning.
The 2000 World Series marked the first time two New York baseball teams met in the World Series since 1956, when the Yankees defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in seven games. (Photo by Al Tielemans/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (SetNumber: X61664 TK1 R13 F14)
Vizcaíno finished with four hits for the Yankees, who won 4-3.
A controversial game 2
Yes, drama was plentiful 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 threw that piece of bat down the first base line where Piazza was standing at the time. Both benches temporarily cleared, but no one was ejected, and the round resumed moments later, with Piazza grounding out to end the round.
The Yankees went 4-2 against the Mets during the 2000 regular season. (Photo by John Iacono/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Game number: X61660 TK2 R7 F28)
This skirmish 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, throwing nine strikeouts and giving up just two baserunners (two hits).
As for the Yankees bats, they went straight to work on Mets left-hander Mike Hampton, 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 homer. A fifth-inning single by Paul O’Neill, a seventh-inning sacrifice fly by Brosius and an eighth-inning RBI single by Martinez — who, along with Yankees star shortstop Derek Jeter, had a game-high three hits — would give the Yankees a 6-0 lead heading into the ninth inning.
But then it got dicey for the Yankees – really extremely dicey.
Nelson started the ninth inning for the Yankees and gave up a single, a two-run home run to Piazza, then another single, forcing manager Joe Torre to go to Mariano Rivera, who also struggled. With Rivera striking out two of the first four batters he faced, MLB’s eventual all-time saves leader (652) gave up a three-run homer to center fielder Jay Payton, making it a 6-5 game.
That said, Rivera got infielder Kurt Abbott to strike out to end it, with the Yankees avoiding disaster, winning 6-5 and taking a 2-0 series lead against Queens.
The Mets wake up
It could be argued that the ninth inning of Game 2 gave the Mets momentum that they capitalized on in Game 3.
The Metropolitans struck first in game three, as third baseman Robin Ventura hit a solo home run to open the bottom of the second. True, the Yankees tied the game with an RBI double from Justice in the third inning and took the lead in the fourth thanks to an RBI triple from O’Neill.
Mets first baseman Todd Zeile tied the score at 2 in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI double, and they took the lead for good in the eighth thanks to an RBI double from left fielder Benny Agbayani. Later in the inning, Trammell drove in another run on a sacrifice fly, and Armando Benítez closed the door on a Game 3 win for the Mets in the top of the ninth.
The Mets won 94 games during the 2000 regular season, while the Yankees won 87. AFP PHOTO/Don EMMERT (Photo credit should read DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images)
As for pitching performance, right-hander Rick Reed managed six innings for the Mets, while the Yankees stuck with Orlando Hernández (AKA “El Duque”) for 7 ⅓ innings and had him throw 134 pitches; the right-hander was credited for all four earned runs.
Yankees send Mets to bed
The air in Shea Stadium evaporated after the first pitch.
Jeter hit the first pitch thrown by Mets starter Bobby Jones into the left field seats, giving the Bronx Bombers the lead. The next inning, Brosius drove in a run on a sacrifice fly, with the Yankees scoring a third run in the third on an RBI grounder by second baseman Luis Sojo.
Those three runs would be all the Yankees needed.
Now the Mets responded quickly, as Piazza hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the third, but those would be the last runs scored in a 3-2 Yankees victory.
Derek Jeter hit .317 during the 2000 MLB playoffs. (Photo by Al Tielemans/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Game number: X61704 TK4 R13 F24)
For the Yankees, starter Denny Neagle lasted only 4 ⅔ innings, but David Cone, Nelson, Mike Stanton and Rivera combined for 4 ⅓ innings of scoreless relief and gave up only three baserunners total (two hits and a walk) – and Rivera earned a two-inning save.
The Yankees succeed in the 3-Peat
The Yankees didn’t just win the 2000 Subway Series: they won it in Queens.
Center fielder Bernie Williams scored the game’s first run on a solo homer in the top of the second, but the Mets scored two runs in the bottom half of the inning on an infield error by Leiter and then on a base hit by Agbayani. Later, “The Captain” tied the score at 2, as Jeter hit a solo homer in the sixth.
The Mets rode with Leiter until the cows came home, as the left-hander was still on the mound with two outs in the ninth inning, but Sojo delivered the final blow to the Yankees, hitting a 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, scoring MLB’s first triple since the Oakland Athletics accomplished the feat from 1972 to 1974, and it remains the sport’s most recent triple.
The Yankees won four World Series in five years, from 1996 to 2000. (Photo by Ken Sawchuk/Newsday RM via Getty Images)
Jeter was the MVP of the 2000 World Series, as the Hall of Fame shortstop – who is sixth in MLB history with 3,465 career hits – went 9 for 22, hit two homers and finished the Series with a slash line of .409/.480/.864. Meanwhile, O’Neill finished the Subway Series with nine hits and posted a slash line of .474/.545/.789; Brosius finished with a .308/.389/.538 slash line; Martinez hit .364; Pettitte pitched a total of 13 ⅔ innings over his two starts, recording a 1.98 ERA.
For the Mets, Zeile had eight hits, while Piazza had two homers and a series-high four RBIs; Leiter pitched a total of 15 ⅔ innings.
A five-game best-of-seven series is what it is: a convincing victory for the winners. That said, all five games of the Subway Series were decided by two runs or less, the Yankees outscored the Mets 19-16, and this is the only time the two teams have met in the World Series.
It’s the closest thing the New York sports world has received since the Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants battled in countless World Series before the Dodgers and Giants moved to the West Coast.
