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In late October 2000, New York City was the epicenter of the baseball world, as the New York Yankees and New York Mets met in the 2000 World Series.
With the two teams set to face off in a three-game series at Citi Field beginning 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 game 1 in extras
Irony from the jump.
The Mets sent Al Leiter, who spent the first 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 the order.
Leiter kept the Yankees off the board for the first five innings, allowing just four runners on three hits and one walk. The Yankees then broke the ice in the bottom of the sixth inning.
After two of the first three runners of the inning reached 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 caught up with the Yankees’ left-handed pitcher in the top of the seventh. After consecutive singles and a walk, pinch-hitter Bubba Trammell evened the score at 2-2 for the Mets with a two-run single. Two batters later, Pettitte was relieved by right-hander Jeff Nelson, who allowed a go-ahead single to second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo.
The Yankees did not score a run in the seventh or eighth inning, but managed to send the game into extra innings with a sacrifice fly by Chuck Knoblauch in the ninth. Both teams were 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, when 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 beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in seven games. (Photo by Al Tielemans/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Game number: X61664 TK1 R13 F14)
Vizcaíno finished with a game-high four hits for the Yankees, who won 4-3.
A controversial game 2
Yes, there was a lot of drama 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 the bat down the first base line where Piazza was standing at the time. Both benches were temporarily cleared, 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 seven-time Cy Young Award winner pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out nine and allowing just two runners (two hits).
As for the Yankees’ bats, they went to work with Mets left-hander Mike Hampton, with first baseman Tino Martínez and catcher Jorge Posada each driving in a run with 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 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 entering the ninth inning.
But then things became dangerous for the Yankees, tremendously dangerous.
Nelson started the ninth inning for the Yankees and proceeded to give up a single, a two-run homer to Piazza and then another single, forcing manager Joe Torre to turn to Mariano Rivera, who also struggled. While Rivera threw out two of the first four batters he faced, the eventual MLB all-time saves leader (652) proceeded to allow a three-run home run to center fielder Jay Payton, making it a 6-5 game.
All that said, Rivera got infielder Kurt Abbott to strike out looking to end it, with the Yankees evading catastrophe, winning 6-5 and taking a 2-0 series lead against Queens.
The Mets wake up
You could argue that the ninth inning of Game 2 gave the Mets some momentum that they took advantage of in Game 3.
The Metropolitans struck first in Game 3, when third baseman Robin Ventura hit a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the second. Of course, the Yankees tied the game with Justice’s RBI double in the third inning and took the lead in the fourth with O’Neill’s RBI triple.
Mets first baseman Todd Zeile tied the score at 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI double, and they took the lead for good in the eighth on an RBI double by left fielder Benny Agbayani. Later in the inning, Trammell drove in another run with a sacrifice fly and Armando Benitez closed the door on a Mets victory in Game 3 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 pitching performances, right-hander Rick Reed completed 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 with the four earned runs.
Yankees send Mets back to bed
The air in Shea Stadium evaporated on the first pitch.
Jeter hit the first pitch from Mets starter Bobby Jones into the left field seats, giving the Bronx Bombers the early lead. In the next inning, Brosius drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, and the Yankees added a third run in the third on an RBI groundout 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 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 only 4 ⅔ innings, but David Cone, Nelson, Mike Stanton and Rivera combined for 4 ⅓ innings of scoreless relief and allowed just three total runners (two hits and a walk), with Rivera earning a two-inning save.
The Yankees win their third title
The Yankees didn’t just win the 2000 Subway Series: they won it in Queens.
Center fielder Bernie Williams drove in the game’s first run with 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 by Leiter and then an infield hit by Agbayani. “The Captain” later tied the score at 2-2 when Jeter hit a solo home run in the sixth.
The Mets were 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 dealt the final blow to the Yankees, hitting a go-ahead two-run single that took Leiter out of the game; He made 142 pitches. Meanwhile, the Yankees had seven innings from Pettitte, who threw 129 pitches.
Rivera closed out Game 5 for the Yankees in the bottom of the ninth, ending MLB’s first hat trick since the Oakland Athletics accomplished the feat from 1972-74, and remains the sport’s most recent hat trick.
The Yankees won four World Series in five years between 1996 and 2000. (Photo by Ken Sawchuk/Newsday RM via Getty Images)
Jeter was the Most Valuable Player of the 2000 World Series, as a Hall of Fame shortstop, sixth in MLB history with 3,465 career hits, going 9 for 22, hitting two home runs and finishing the series with a .409/.480/.864 line. Meanwhile, O’Neill finished the Subway Series with nine hits and posted a .474/.545/.789 line; Brosius finished with a .308/.389/.538 line; Martínez hit .364; Pettitte pitched a combined 13 ⅔ innings in his two starts, posting 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 compelling series for the victors. That said, all five Subway Series games were decided by two runs or less, the Yankees outscored the Mets 19-16, and it’s the only time the two teams have met in the World Series.
This was the closest the sports world has gotten to New York since the Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants battled in countless World Series before the Dodgers and Giants moved to the West Coast.
