1998 New York Yankees season

The 1998 season was the 96th season played by the New York Yankees. Widely regarded as one of the greatest teams in baseball history, the Yankees finished with a franchise record regular-season standing of 114–48. These Yankees set an American League record for wins in a season, a record that would stand until 2001, when the Seattle Mariners won 116 games in the regular season against 46 losses. It also saw Yankee David Wells pitch the 15th perfect game in baseball history. The Yankees played at Yankee Stadium, in which they celebrated the stadium's 75th anniversary. Joe Torre managed the team.
In the postseason, they swept the Texas Rangers in the American League Division Series, won the American League pennant by beating the Cleveland Indians four games to two in the American League Championship Series, and swept the San Diego Padres to capture their 24th World Series. Including the playoffs, the 1998 Yankees won a total of 125 games against 50 losses, a Major League Baseball record.

Offseason transactions

November 11, 1997: Charlie Hayes was traded by the New York Yankees with cash to the San Francisco Giants for Chris Singleton and Alberto Castillo.
November 12, 1997: Luis Sojo was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
November 18, 1997: Scott Brosius was sent by the Oakland Athletics to the New York Yankees to complete an earlier deal made on November 7, 1997. The Oakland Athletics sent a player to be named later to the New York Yankees for Kenny Rogers and cash.
November 25, 1997: Dale Sveum was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
December 10, 1997: Chili Davis signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
January 8, 1998: Darryl Strawberry re-signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
January 15, 1998: Tim Raines re-signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
January 26, 1998: Doug Linton was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
February 6, 1998: Chuck Knoblauch was traded by the Minnesota Twins to the New York Yankees for Brian Buchanan, Cristian Guzmán, Eric Milton, Danny Mota, and cash.
March 14, 1998: Doug Linton was released by the New York Yankees.
June 2, 1998: Mark Prior was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 1st round of the 1998 amateur draft, but did not sign.
June 2, 1998: Drew Henson was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 3rd round of the 1998 amateur draft. Player signed July 24, 1998.
June 28, 1998: Ken Huckaby was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
August 3, 1998: Dale Sveum was released by the New York Yankees.
September 29, 1998: Alfonso Soriano was purchased by the New York Yankees from the Hiroshima Toyo Carp.

Game log

Detailed records

Month	Games	Won	Lost	Win %
April	23	17	6		135	107
May	27	20	7		192	118
June	26	19	7		135	87
July	27	20	7		142	89
August	32	22	10		222	151
September	27	16	11		139	104
Total	162	114	48		965	656

Player stats

Batting

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Jorge Posada	111	358	96	.268	17	63
1B	Tino Martinez	142	531	149	.281	28	123
2B	Chuck Knoblauch	150	603	160	.265	17	64
3B	Scott Brosius	152	530	159	.300	19	98
SS	Derek Jeter	149	626	203	.324	19	84
LF	Chad Curtis	151	456	111	.243	10	56
CF	Bernie Williams	128	499	169	.339	26	97
RF	Paul O'Neill	152	602	191	.317	24	116
DH	Darryl Strawberry	101	295	73	.247	24	57

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Tim Raines	109	321	93	.290	5	47
Joe Girardi	78	254	70	.276	3	31
Luis Sojo	54	147	34	.231	0	14
Chili Davis	35	103	30	.291	3	9
Ricky Ledée	42	79	19	.241	1	12
Homer Bush	45	71	27	.380	1	5
Shane Spencer	27	67	25	.373	10	27
Dale Sveum	30	58	9	.155	0	3
Mike Lowell	8	15	4	.267	0	0
Mike Figga	1	4	1	.250	0	0

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Andy Pettitte	33	216.1	16	11	4.24	146
David Wells	30	214.1	18	4	3.49	163
David Cone	31	207.2	20	7	3.55	209
Hideki Irabu	29	173.0	13	9	4.06	129
Orlando Hernández	21	141.0	12	4	3.13	131

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Mariano Rivera	54	61.1	3	0	36	1.91	36
Mike Stanton	67	79.0	4	1	6	5.47	69
Graeme Lloyd	50	37.2	3	0	0	1.67	20
Jeff Nelson	45	40.1	5	3	3	3.79	35
Darren Holmes	34	51.1	0	3	2	3.33	31
Mike Buddie	24	41.2	4	1	0	5.62	20
Willie Banks	9	14.1	1	1	0	10.05	8
Joe Borowski	8	9.2	1	0	0	6.52	7
Jay Tessmer	7	8.2	1	0	0	3.12	6
Todd Erdos	2	2.0	0	0	0	9.00	0