2000 New York Yankees season

The 2000 New York Yankees season was the 98th season for the Yankees. New York was managed by Joe Torre. The team finished first in the American League East with a record of 87-74, 2.5 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox, after losing 15 of their final 18 games, including their last 7. Despite having the lowest winning percentage of any postseason qualifier in 2000, the Yankees won the World Series over the New York Mets in 5 games to win their 26th World Series title. They were the last team to win World Series titles in consecutive years until the Los Angeles Dodgers season|Los Angeles Dodgers] repeated in 2025.

Offseason

November 29, 1999: Mike Stanton was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
December 1, 1999: Chili Davis was released by the New York Yankees.
December 13, 1999: Chad Curtis was traded by the New York Yankees to the Texas Rangers for Brandon Knight and Sam Marsonek.
December 15, 1999: Ryan Thompson signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
January 26, 2000: Roberto Kelly signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
February 1, 2000: Tim Raines signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
March 17, 2000: Ted Lilly was Sent by the Montreal Expos to the New York Yankees to complete an earlier deal made on December 22, 1999. The Montreal Expos sent players to be named later and Jake Westbrook to the New York Yankees for Hideki Irabu. The Montreal Expos sent Ted Lilly and Christian Parker to the New York Yankees to complete the trade.
March 23, 2000: Tim Raines was released by the New York Yankees.

Notable transactions

April 2, 2000: Lance Johnson signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
April 2, 2000: Félix José was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
April 2, 2000: Ryan Thompson was released by the New York Yankees.
May 1, 2000: Ryan Thompson signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
May 14, 2000: Randall Simon was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
June 11, 2000: Dwight Gooden signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
June 20, 2000: Jim Leyritz was traded by the New York Yankees to the Los Angeles Dodgers for José Vizcaíno and cash.
June 29, 2000: David Justice was traded by the Cleveland Indians to the New York Yankees for Ricky Ledée, Jake Westbrook, and Zach Day.
July 12, 2000: Denny Neagle was traded by the Cincinnati Reds with Mike Frank to the New York Yankees for Ed Yarnall, Drew Henson, Brian Reith, and Jackson Melián.
July 21, 2000: Glenallen Hill was traded by the Chicago Cubs to the New York Yankees for Ben Ford and Oswaldo Mairena.
August 3, 2000: Luis Polonia was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
August 7, 2000: José Canseco was selected off waivers by the New York Yankees from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
August 7, 2000: Luis Sojo was traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates to the New York Yankees for Chris Spurling.

Season summary

On September 28, 2000, the Yankees played the Devil Rays at Tampa Bay. In the top of the 2nd inning, Jose Canseco was walked. Tino Martinez then hit a double to center field. The ball was fielded by Gerald Williams and relayed to Mike DiFelice. He tagged Jose Canseco at the plate and proceeded to tag out Tino Martinez who was running right behind Canseco. Mike DiFelice tagged both runners out at the plate.
The Yankees only played 161 games because they had a game rained out against the Florida Marlins that was not made up due to scheduling constraints and lack of playoff implications.

Detailed records

Month	Games	Won	Lost	Win %
April	23	15	8		112	106
May	26	13	13		122	111
June	25	10	15		155	153
July	26	18	8		167	113
August	30	18	12		187	148
September	30	13	17		125	176
October	1	0	1		3	7
Total	161	87	74		871	814

Opening Day starters

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

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

Pos	Player	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	Avg.	SB
C	Jorge Posada	151	505	92	145	28	86	.287	2
1B	Tino Martinez	155	569	69	147	16	91	.258	4
2B	Chuck Knoblauch	102	400	75	113	5	26	.283	15
3B	Scott Brosius	135	470	57	108	16	64	.230	0
SS	Derek Jeter	148	593	119	201	15	73	.339	22
LF	Ricky Ledée	62	191	23	46	7	31	.241	7
CF	Bernie Williams	141	537	108	165	30	121	.307	13
RF	Paul O'Neill	142	566	79	160	18	100	.283	14
DH	Shane Spencer	73	248	33	70	9	40	.282	1

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; HR = Home run; RBI = Runs batted in; Avg. = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Player	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	Avg.	SB
David Justice	78	275	43	84	20	60	.305	1
Clay Bellinger	98	184	33	38	6	21	.207	5
José Vizcaíno	73	174	23	48	0	10	.276	5
Glenallen Hill	40	132	22	44	16	29	.333	0
Luis Sojo	34	125	19	36	2	17	.288	1
José Canseco	37	111	16	27	6	19	.243	0
Chris Turner	37	89	9	21	1	7	.236	0
Luis Polonia	37	77	11	22	1	5	.286	4
Jim Leyritz	24	55	2	12	1	4	.218	0
Alfonso Soriano	22	50	5	9	2	3	.180	2
Ryan Thompson	33	50	12	13	3	14	.260	0
Wilson Delgado	31	45	6	11	1	4	.244	1
Lance Johnson	18	30	6	9	0	2	.300	2
Félix José	20	29	4	7	1	5	.241	0
Roberto Kelly	10	25	4	3	1	1	.120	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; CG = Complete games; SO = Strikeouts; BB = Walks allowed

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	CG	SO	BB
Andy Pettitte	32	204.2	19	9	4.35	3	125	80
Roger Clemens	32	204.1	13	8	3.70	1	188	84
Orlando Hernández	29	195.2	12	13	4.51	3	141	51
David Cone	30	155.0	4	14	6.91	0	120	82
Denny Neagle	16	91.1	15	9	4.52	1	58	31
Ramiro Mendoza	14	65.2	7	4	4.25	1	30	20

Other pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO	BB
Dwight Gooden	18	64.1	4	2	2	3.36	31	21
Todd Erdos	14	25.0	0	0	1	5.04	18	11
Ben Ford	4	11.0	0	1	0	9.00	5	7
Randy Keisler	4	10.2	1	0	0	11.81	6	8
Jake Westbrook	3	6.2	0	2	0	13.50	1	4
Ed Yarnall	2	3.0	0	0	0	15.00	1	3

Relief pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO	BB
Mariano Rivera	66	75.2	7	4	36	2.85	58	25
	73	69.2	8	4	0	2.45	71	45
	69	68.0	2	3	0	4.10	75	24
Jason Grimsley	63	96.1	3	2	1	5.04	53	42
Randy Choate	22	17.0	0	1	0	4.76	12	8
Allen Watson	12	22.0	0	0	0	10.23	20	18
Darrell Einertson	11	12.2	0	0	0	3.55	3	4
Craig Dingman	10	11.0	0	0	0	6.55	8	3
Ted Lilly	7	8.0	0	0	0	5.63	11	5
Jay Tessmer	7	6.2	0	0	0	6.75	5	1

Postseason

ALDS

New York wins the series, 3–2

ALCS

Seattle Mariners vs. New York Yankees

Yankees win the Series, 4–2

World series

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Score	Record
1	October 21	New York Mets	3	New York Yankees	4	1-0
2	October 22	New York Mets	5	New York Yankees	6	2-0
3	October 24	New York Yankees	2	New York Mets	4	2-1
4	October 25	New York Yankees	3	New York Mets	2	3-1
5	October 26	New York Yankees	4	New York Mets	2	4-1

Awards and honors

Derek Jeter, SS, World Series Most Valuable Player, All-Star Game MVP
David Justice, Outfielder, American League Championship Series MVP