2000 Yankees

The 2000 New York Yankees weren't pretty. They went 87-74 -- the worst record for a World Series champion since the 1987 Twins -- and honestly, for long stretches of the summer, they looked like a team running on fumes. But here's the thing about those dynasty-era Yankees: they didn't need to be pretty. They needed to be standing in October. And when the lights came on for the first Subway Series since 1956, this aging, creaking, stubbornly unbeatable team found one more gear and ran the freakin' table.

Three-peat. Try saying that without smiling.

The Grind

Let's be honest about the regular season: it was rough. The 87 wins were the fewest for the club since 1995, and if you watched all 162 games (I did, and I have the gray hairs to prove it), you could see the cracks. This was a team getting older in real time.

The hardest part was watching David Cone. A year removed from that surreal perfect game on Yogi Berra Day, Cone went 4-14 with a 6.91 ERA. The man who'd made 27 straight Expos sit down couldn't get through five innings. He was 36, his shoulder was shot, and every start felt like watching a friend struggle. Torre kept running him out there because that's what you do for a guy like Cone. It didn't help.

Derek Jeter hit .339 and was the engine of the offense, because of course he was. Bernie Williams put up a quiet monster year -- .307, 30 homers, 121 RBI -- and Jorge Posada continued his breakout with 28 homers from behind the plate. Paul O'Neill, battered and bruised and held together by tape and stubbornness, hit .283 with 18 homers while playing hurt for most of the year. (O'Neill played hurt every year. I'm convinced the man hasn't had a pain-free day since 1994.)

The biggest midseason move was the June 29 trade that brought David Justice over from Cleveland. Justice hit .305 with 20 homers as a Yankee and gave the lineup a left-handed bat that could change a game with one swing. It was the kind of deal that looked boring on paper and won a World Series.

On the mound, Andy Pettitte went 19-9 and was the ace by default. Clemens went 13-8. El Duque did El Duque things. And Mariano Rivera saved 36 games with a 2.85 ERA, because the sun rises in the east and Mo closes out ballgames. That's just how it works.

Clemens and Piazza

We need to talk about it.

July 8, 2000. Interleague play at the Stadium. Roger Clemens drilled Mike Piazza in the head with a fastball. Piazza went down hard -- concussion, carried off the field. Clemens said it wasn't intentional. Piazza didn't buy it. Nobody bought it. The whole city went nuclear.

Then came World Series Game 2.

Piazza shattered his bat on a foul ball off Clemens, and the barrel of the bat came spinning toward the mound. Clemens picked it up and threw it -- THREW IT -- toward Piazza as he ran up the first base line. Both benches cleared. Clemens told reporters afterward, "I thought it was the ball."

I'm going to let that quote sit there for a second so you can appreciate how absurd it is.

He thought a jagged piece of maple was a baseball. Sure, Roger. (The man threw 97 miles an hour for 20 years, but he couldn't tell the difference between a ball and a bat shard. Got it.) The whole incident was unhinged, and it defined the 2000 Subway Series as much as anything that happened on the scoreboard. Clemens then pitched eight shutout innings that night, because Roger Clemens was a whole different kind of crazy.

The Subway Series

The first Subway Series since 1956 -- when the Yankees played the Brooklyn Dodgers across Yankee Stadium and Ebbets Field for seven games -- and the whole city lost its mind. The first one ever between the Yankees and the Mets. Yankees fans vs. Mets fans. Marriages were tested. Friendships ended. It was beautiful.

Game 1 went 12 innings. The Mets had every chance to steal it, and then Jose Vizcaino -- JOSE VIZCAINO -- delivered a walk-off single. He went 4-for-5 on the night. Yankees 4, Mets 3. Nobody saw that coming, and that's October baseball in a nutshell.

Game 2 was the Clemens-Piazza circus described above. Yankees 6, Mets 5. Eight shutout innings from Clemens before the bullpen made it interesting.

Game 3 -- the Mets won 4-2. Their only win. Let's move on.

Game 4 is the one I'll never forget. Bottom of the first inning, Jeter steps in against Bobby Jones, and on the very first pitch of the game, he turns on it and sends it into the seats. Leadoff homer. First pitch. World Series. The Captain set the tone for the whole night, and the Yankees won 3-2.

Game 5, October 26. Yankees 4, Mets 2. Mo came in and shut the door, because that's what Mo does. Three-peat. Twenty-sixth championship. Jeter took home World Series MVP honors after hitting .409 with 2 homers and 6 runs scored across five games.

Key Moments

Winning the World Series is what it's about. But winning it against the Mets, in New York -- I don't know if it gets better than that.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did the Yankees win the 2000 World Series?

Yes. The 2000 Yankees defeated the New York Mets 4 games to 1 in the first Subway Series since 1956. Derek Jeter was named World Series MVP after hitting .409 with 2 home runs across the five games. It was the franchise's 26th championship and third in a row.

What happened between Clemens and Piazza in the 2000 World Series?

During Game 2 of the 2000 World Series, Mike Piazza shattered his bat on a foul ball off Roger Clemens. Clemens picked up the broken bat barrel and threw it toward Piazza as he ran to first base, sparking a benches-clearing confrontation. The incident came months after Clemens had hit Piazza in the head with a fastball on July 8, giving him a concussion.

When was the last Subway Series before 2000?

The last Subway Series before 2000 was in 1956, when the Yankees faced the Brooklyn Dodgers. The 2000 matchup between the Yankees and Mets was the first all-New York World Series in 44 years and the first ever between the Yankees and Mets.

What was the 2000 Yankees' regular season record?

The 2000 Yankees went 87-74, the worst regular-season record for a World Series champion since the 1987 Minnesota Twins. They won the AL East by 2.5 games, swept Oakland in the ALDS, beat Seattle 4-2 in the ALCS, and defeated the Mets 4-1 in the World Series.