It’s been 22 years since New York last experienced a postseason Subway Series and with the Mets and Yankees both among the best teams in baseball this season, there has been plenty of hope that history could repeat itself.
There was certainly some buzz about it on Saturday as the Mets gathered players from across the franchise’s history at Citi Field for Old Timers Day. Among them, there were plenty of members from the 2000 Mets squad, which had been the first to reach the World Series since 1986, that were hoping for a World Series rematch between the Amazins and Bronx Bombers.
“Well, we’ll see,” former Mets second baseman and current Staten Island FerryHawks manager Edgardo Alfonzo said. “They’re both playing pretty good. I just want the Mets to be there. I don’t know about the Yankees, but the Mets definitely and we’ll see what happens. They’re a pretty good team on both sides, and why not? Another revenge for the Mets fans.”
This season has been a historic year for both New York ballclubs as they shot out of the gate and have been atop the division standings in the AL and NL East. The Mets’ win on Saturday night put them 36 games above .500 for the first time since 1988 and they went into Sunday’s game against the Colorado Rockies with the second-best record in all of Major League Baseball.
The Yankees have been right there with them all season as well owning at one point the best record in the majors and they have an 8.5-game lead in their division. The Bronx Bombers had won five of their last six games which included a two-game sweep of the Mets at Yankee Stadium last Monday and Tuesday.
The success has had many baseball fans and commentators alike pointing to similarities between the 2000 season and this, but former Yankees manager Joe Torre said on Saturday it was hard to really compare.
“To me, unless you’re in the clubhouse and with these guys every day it’s really tough to make comparisons,” said Torre, who managed the Yankees to four World Series titles from 1996 to 2007 including in 2000 over the Mets. “I mean the game has changed somewhat, but you still have to have that look in your eye to go out there and perform on a regular basis. But it would be tough for me to make a comparison unless you know more about the team that’s on the field now.”
Former Mets skipper Bobby Valentine echoed Torre’s sentiments, but was quick to add that he’s hoping to see another Subway Series on baseball’s biggest stage.
“We’re hoping for a repeat, a repeat of everything except for the final outcome,” Valentine said before turning to current manager Buck Showalter. “It’s time. It’s time.”
The Yankees defeated the Mets in five games during the 2000 World Series and captured the title-clinching win at Shea Stadium.
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While the two managers didn’t want to discuss any parallels between that year and this edition of the Mets, the players that lived it have noticed some. In a conversation with amNewYork on Saturday, Jay Payton, who played center field for the Amazins in 2000, said he and Todd Zeile had been discussing some of the similarities earlier in the day.
“We had (Mike) Piazza, the big hitter, they have (Pete) Alonso,” Payton said. “Then you have all the right pieces that fit in. There’s a different guy every day doing something to help the team win. That’s really what it takes.”
