Mariano Rivera's Last Save at Yankee Stadium

September 26, 2013. The opening guitar riff of "Enter Sandman" hits the Stadium speakers one last time, and the place -- nearly 50,000 strong -- is already on its feet before Mariano Rivera takes a single step out of the bullpen. Everyone in the building knows what's happening. Everyone knows this is it. And I'm sitting there thinking -- how do you say goodbye to the most automatic thing in sports?

The Farewell Season

Mo had announced before the 2013 season that he was done. Nineteen years in pinstripes, and he wanted to go out on his own terms -- which, if you knew anything about the man, was the only way he'd ever do it.

The fact that he was pitching at all in 2013 was borderline miraculous. On May 3, 2012, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Rivera tore his ACL while shagging fly balls during batting practice. Not making a diving play. Not covering first base. Shagging fly balls. (Baseball injuries are cruel and stupid and random, and this one was all three.) He was 42 years old. Most people in the sport assumed that was it -- career over, ride off into the sunset, no shame in going out that way.

Rivera's response? He came back. At 43. After an ACL tear. And he didn't just come back to take a victory lap -- he saved 44 games with a 2.11 ERA in 64 appearances. The man was freakin' unhittable in what amounted to a goodbye tour.

The New York Yankees went 85-77 that year and missed the playoffs. The Core Four (Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte, Posada -- the four guys who'd been the spine of every championship run since '96) was crumbling. Jorge Posada had retired after 2011, Andy Pettitte was also calling it quits after '13, and Derek Jeter was dealing with ankle problems that would limit his final season in 2014. There'd be no October to prolong the farewell. Whatever goodbye Mo got, it was happening in a late-September regular-season game against Tampa Bay.

The Moment

The Yankees led 4-0 heading into the ninth. Pettitte had started the game -- because of course he did. Joe Girardi brought in Rivera for what everyone understood would be his final save at the Stadium. The crowd gave him a standing ovation before he threw a pitch, and then Mo did what Mo always did: he put up a zero. Clean ninth inning. Save number 44 on the season. Career save number 652.

And then came the part nobody planned.

After Rivera recorded the final out, he stood on the mound. Not moving. Just... standing there. And from the dugout, Jeter turned to Pettitte and said something like, "Come on, let's go get him." No signal from Girardi. No orchestrated ceremony. Two guys who'd been Mo's teammates since the mid-'90s simply walked out to the mound because they knew -- in that way old teammates know things -- that this moment belonged to them.

I said to Andy, come on, let's go get him. I didn't think about it. We had to go get him.

Rivera saw them coming and broke. Just completely broke. By the time Jeter reached him, Mo was sobbing -- face buried in the Captain's shoulder, Pettitte wrapping his arms around both of them. Three of the Core Four, standing on the mound together for the last time, and the greatest closer in baseball history couldn't hold it together.

(I'm not going to pretend I wasn't a mess on the couch watching this. Nobody was dry-eyed. Nobody.)

Girardi had started toward the mound himself, but he saw Jeter and Pettitte going and stepped back. Smart man. Those were Mo's guys. Those were his brothers. A manager pulling a reliever is a baseball transaction. Two lifelong teammates walking out to get their friend -- that's something else entirely.

Rivera eventually composed himself enough to tip his cap to all four sides of the Stadium. The ovation lasted what felt like forever. He walked off the field at Yankee Stadium for the last time, and that riff from "Enter Sandman" -- the one that had been the sound of inevitability for a decade and a half -- hung in the air like a ghost.

I couldn't hold back the tears. I tried, but I couldn't. The support from the fans, from the organization -- it has been overwhelming.

The Cutter's Legacy

Here's the ridiculous thing about Mo's career: everybody knew what was coming. He threw one pitch. ONE. The cut fastball -- "the cutter" -- ran laterally with late, sharp break, and it shattered bats like they were made of balsa wood. (The equipment staff reportedly collected broken barrel fragments after every Rivera appearance like they were picking up after a demolition site.) Scouts knew it. Coaches knew it. Hitters knew it. It didn't matter.

That postseason ERA -- 0.70 across 141 innings, 96 appearances, 11 earned runs allowed TOTAL -- is the most absurd number in baseball. Not one of the most absurd. THE most absurd. He was better in October than he was in the regular season, and in the regular season he was the best closer who ever lived.

The Yankees signed this man out of Panama in 1990 for $2,500. He discovered the cutter by accident during a warmup session with Ramiro Mendoza in 1997. He threw it for 16 more years and nobody figured it out. (Broadcasters used to joke that Mo needed to pitch in a higher league -- some other universe, maybe. They weren't wrong.)

In January 2019, Rivera became the first player in baseball history elected to the Hall of Fame by unanimous vote -- all 425 ballots. Not Ruth. Not Mays. Not Gehrig. Mo. The man from the fishing village of Puerto Caimito who played catch with cardboard gloves got every single vote.

Frequently Asked Questions

When was Mariano Rivera's last game at Yankee Stadium?

Rivera's last home appearance at Yankee Stadium was September 26, 2013, against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees won 4-0, with Rivera recording a clean ninth-inning save -- his 44th of the season and 652nd of his career. After the final out, Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte walked to the mound unscripted to embrace him, creating one of the most emotional moments in Stadium history. His formal farewell ceremony (featuring a live Metallica performance of "Enter Sandman") had taken place four days earlier on September 22.

Who came to get Mariano Rivera on the mound?

Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte walked from the dugout to the mound after Rivera recorded the final out of his last home appearance. Manager Joe Girardi stepped back and let the moment belong to Rivera's longtime teammates. Jeter later said he turned to Pettitte and told him they had to go get Mo themselves. Rivera broke down in tears before they reached him.

How many saves did Mariano Rivera finish with?

Rivera finished his career with 652 saves -- the all-time MLB record, 51 more than Trevor Hoffman's previous mark of 601. He also holds the all-time postseason saves record with 42. As of 2026, no active closer is within realistic range of his career total.