The New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners four games to two in the 2000 ALCS, clinching their third straight pennant with a 9-7 win at Yankee Stadium on October 17, 2000. Roger Clemens threw a 15-strikeout one-hitter in Game 4, and David Justice's go-ahead homer in Game 6 made him ALCS MVP.
Two swings and one start. That's the series. Everything else was Seattle making the Yankees sweat for it.
A Tired Team Walks Into October
The 2000 Yankees didn't look like a dynasty in September. They went 87-74, dropped 15 of their last 18 and needed all five games to get past Oakland in the ALDS.
Seattle looked fresher. The Mariners won 91 games without Ken Griffey Jr., took the wild card and swept the White Sox. Lou Piniella, the old Yankee, ran the dugout. And at shortstop they had a 25-year-old Alex Rodriguez in his walk year, five years removed from the 1995 ALDS that still stung in the Bronx.
The Bronx Splits, Then the Eighth Inning Happens
Game 1 was ugly. Freddy Garcia threw 6 2/3 scoreless innings, A-Rod homered, and Seattle won 2-0 at the Stadium.
Game 2 was worse for seven innings. The Yanks trailed 1-0 going to the bottom of the eighth, six outs from flying to Seattle down two games. Then Justice led off with a double off Arthur Rhodes, Bernie Williams tied it with a single, and the dam broke. Jeter capped it with a two-run homer. Seven runs, all in one inning. El Duque got the win, and the series went west tied.
Piniella's postgame verdict, per the AP: "We had seven good innings of baseball, and in the eighth they exploded on us." (Accurate. Not comforting, but accurate.)
Game 3: Bernie and Tino Go Back-to-Back
Seattle scored first at Safeco, and the lead lasted until the next inning. Bernie and Tino Martinez opened the second with back-to-back homers off Aaron Sele, and the Yanks rolled, 8-2. Andy Pettitte won it.
Mariano Rivera got the save, and his 1 2/3 scoreless innings pushed him past Whitey Ford for the most consecutive scoreless postseason innings. Because of course he did.
Game 4: The Rocket's Masterpiece
October 14, Safeco Field. Roger Clemens came in with a so-so October résumé and left with the best postseason start of his life.
He set the tone early. After striking out the first two Mariners, Clemens brushed A-Rod back with two straight pitches up and in. Seattle swore it was on purpose. Clemens didn't care, and he had a no-hitter through six.
Al Martin finally broke it up with a leadoff double in the seventh, off the glove of a leaping Tino. Clemens answered by striking out Rodriguez, Edgar Martinez and Mike Cameron in a row.
Final line: nine innings, one hit, two walks, 15 strikeouts. That tied the ALCS record Mike Mussina set in 1997 (Mussina signed with the Yankees that winter, which is a fun little loop). Jeter hit a three-run homer off Paul Abbott, Justice added two more off Jose Mesa, and the Yanks won 5-0 for a 3-1 series lead.
Tonight was special.
Joe Torre called it "total dominance." He wasn't wrong. (Clemens, of course, would make different headlines in the World Series eight days later.)
Game 5: Seattle Won't Go Quietly
The Mariners didn't fold. A-Rod's two-run single put them ahead in the fifth, then Edgar and John Olerud went back-to-back to finish a five-run inning. Seattle won 6-2 and sent everybody back to New York.
Game 6: Justice in the Upper Deck
Seattle jumped El Duque for four runs, and the Yankees clawed three back in the fourth. It was 4-3 Mariners in the bottom of the seventh when Jose Paniagua allowed two soft singles and Piniella went to his lefty, Rhodes, for Justice.
Rhodes fell behind 3-1. Justice got a fastball and hit it into the upper deck in right. Three-run homer, 6-4 Yankees, and the Stadium shook. The Yanks kept going and finished a six-run seventh.
It was just magic.
Seattle didn't let it end clean. A-Rod homered in the eighth, Mark McLemore hit a two-run double, and Rivera's scoreless streak finally ended. But Mo struck out pinch-hitter Jay Buhner to end that inning, and in the ninth, with Edgar Martinez up as the tying run, he got a grounder to Jeter. Yankees 9, Mariners 7.
Pennant No. 37. Three in a row.
What It Set Up
Justice won MVP with a .231 average, which tells you everything about how much one swing can matter. He hit two homers and drove in eight, and one of those homers put the Yanks into a Subway Series they won in five.
The Mariners came back a year later with 116 wins and Piniella's Game 6 guarantee. That went about as well as this one did. (See: the 2001 ALCS.)
But in 2000, the tired team with 87 wins had Clemens on one night and Justice on another. That was enough.
| Series Result | Yankees 4, Mariners 2 |
| Game 1 (Oct. 10, New York) | Mariners 2, Yankees 0 |
| Game 2 (Oct. 11, New York) | Yankees 7, Mariners 1 |
| Game 3 (Oct. 13, Seattle) | Yankees 8, Mariners 2 |
| Game 4 (Oct. 14, Seattle) | Yankees 5, Mariners 0 |
| Game 5 (Oct. 15, Seattle) | Mariners 6, Yankees 2 |
| Game 6 (Oct. 17, New York) | Yankees 9, Mariners 7 |
| ALCS MVP | David Justice: .231, 2 HR, 8 RBI |
| Clemens, Game 4 | 9 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 15 K |
| Alex Rodriguez, Series | .409 (9-for-22), 2 HR |
| Pennant | 37th in franchise history, third straight |
Game 1: Garcia Blanks the Bronx
Freddy Garcia throws 6 2/3 scoreless innings and A-Rod homers as Seattle wins 2-0 at Yankee Stadium.
Game 2: Seven in the Eighth
Down 1-0, the Yankees score seven runs in the eighth, capped by Jeter's two-run homer, and win 7-1.
Game 3: Back-to-Back
Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez homer back-to-back off Aaron Sele, and Rivera passes Whitey Ford's scoreless-innings mark in an 8-2 win.
Game 4: Clemens One-Hitter
Clemens allows only Al Martin's seventh-inning double and strikes out 15 in a 5-0 shutout at Safeco Field.
Game 5: Seattle Survives
Edgar Martinez and John Olerud go back-to-back in a five-run fifth, and the Mariners win 6-2.
Game 6: Justice Wins the Pennant
Justice's three-run homer off Arthur Rhodes flips a 4-3 deficit, and the Yankees hold on 9-7 for their third straight pennant.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the 2000 ALCS between the Yankees and Mariners?
The Yankees won four games to two. Seattle took Game 1 at Yankee Stadium, then the Yankees won Games 2, 3 and 4 before the Mariners won Game 5 at Safeco Field. The Yankees clinched with a 9-7 win in Game 6 at Yankee Stadium on October 17, 2000.
Who was the MVP of the 2000 ALCS?
David Justice. He hit .231 with two home runs and eight RBI, and his three-run homer off Arthur Rhodes in the seventh inning of Game 6 turned a 4-3 deficit into a 6-4 lead.
Did Roger Clemens throw a one-hitter in the 2000 ALCS?
Yes. In Game 4 on October 14, 2000, at Safeco Field, Clemens threw a complete-game one-hitter with 15 strikeouts in a 5-0 win. Al Martin's leadoff double in the seventh inning was Seattle's only hit, and the 15 strikeouts tied Mike Mussina's ALCS record.
How did Alex Rodriguez do against the Yankees in the 2000 ALCS?
He went 9-for-22 (.409) with two home runs, including a solo shot in Seattle's Game 1 win. Game 6 was his final game with the Mariners before he signed with the Texas Rangers as a free agent.