Starting Friday, the Subway Series turns 30. And like any 30th birthday, that time is ripe for some deeper reflection — about three decades of memorable games, memorable performances and memorable moments.
So let’s take this chance to look back at that time and build a team out of the best Subway Series performers. These aren’t necessarily the best players at each position over those three decades, though it does work out that way quite often, but rather the players who have done the best in this specific series matchup.
(Statistics from regular season only.)
Catcher: Mike Piazza, Mets
38 games, 161 PA, .317/.398/.554, 8 HR, 25 RBI
It was Piazza and Jorge Posada for so long in this rivalry, and Piazza has the edge with an OPS better than .950 in games against the Yankees. From 1999 through 2002, Piazza went 30-for-82 (.366) with eight homers in 23 games against the Yankees. He had 10 RBIs against them in six games in 1999.
Memorable Subway Series moment: Clubbing the grand slam off Roger Clemens before everything turned chaotic between the two in 2000
First base: Mark Teixeira, Yankees
34 games, 146 PA, .264/.377/.587, 11 HR, 32 RBI
This was a competitive spot: Carlos Delgado had a nine-RBI game against the Yankees, no Met has hit more Subway Series homers than Pete Alonso’s 11, and Jason Giambi’s numbers could give Teixeira’s a run for their money. Still, Teixeira owned the Mets even late in his career. He hit three homers in a series in April 2015, part of a blistering start to a bounce-back season for the first baseman.
Memorable Subway Series moment: Scoring all the way from first base on Luis Castillo’s dropped popup
Second base: Jeff McNeil, Mets
34 games, 136 PA, .336/.412/.496, 4 HR, 20 RBI
Among players with more than 15 games in the Subway Series, only Derek Jeter has a higher batting average than McNeil’s .336. That includes going 9-for-18 in 2021. Ironically, the only year McNeil struggled in the Subway Series was 2022, when he won the National League batting title.
Memorable Subway Series moment: Swatting the go-ahead home run in the seventh inning of last season’s series opener in Queens on July 4.
Third base: Alex Rodríguez, Yankees
59 games, 247 PA, .310/.401/.529, 13 HR, 39 RBI
Funnily enough, Rodríguez’s most impressive performance in this series came without a home run: In 2005, he collected 14 hits in 23 at-bats against Mets pitching, including nine in a three-game series in the Bronx. The 2006 season series was the pinnacle for third basemen: David Wright won the opener with a walk-off at Shea Stadium in May, and Rodríguez’s grand slam was part of a seven-RBI performance in the season finale in the Bronx in July. This was a tight call between Wright and Rodríguez, but the latter wins out with a big advantage in on-base percentage.
Memorable Subway Series moment: That big performance in the series finale in 2006
Shortstop: Derek Jeter, Yankees
87 games, 398 PA, .364/.419/.536, 13 HR, 44 RBI
On a rate basis, yeah, you can make a good case for Francisco Lindor (24 games, 113 PA, .304/.425/.598, 6 HR, 21 RBI), who also memorably delivered a three-homer game against the Yankees in September 2021. However, nobody has stepped to the plate in a Subway Series as often as Jeter did; in fact, nobody is within 140 plate appearances of him in series history. Which makes the huge batting average and slugging numbers — compared to .310 and .440 career marks — even more impressive.
Memorable Subway Series moment: One that doesn’t even count toward those stats — the leadoff home run against Bobby Jones in Game 4 of the 2000 World Series
Left field: Curtis Granderson, Mets and Yankees
32 games, 130 PA, .229/.341/.550, 11 HR, 19 RBI
No player has split time in each dugout in this series like Granderson, who played 17 games with the Mets and 15 with the Yankees. He did more damage while in blue and orange, with a .955 OPS (compared to .823 with the Yankees).
Memorable Subway Series moment: Homering in each of his first two games against his former team after joining the Mets in 2014
Center field: Bernie Williams, Yankees
40 games, 163 PA, .313/.448/.473, 3 HR, 17 RBI
Williams was a metronome against the Mets, piling up 1-for-3s and 2-for-5s for the first decade the interleague series was played. Although Williams uncharacteristically struggled when the two teams met in the World Series, he did homer early in the decisive Game 5 off Al Leiter.
Memorable Subway Series moment: Homering early and catching the final out in Game 5 of the 2000 World Series
Right field: Aaron Judge, Yankees
31 games, 130 PA, .300/.392/.727, 14 HR, 26 RBI
As much as we wanted to honor Richard Hidalgo’s 11-for-21, five-homer performance against the Yankees over 10 days in 2004, this is an easy choice. Judge has bludgeoned the Mets as much as any other team in recent years, and his 14 long balls are the most in the series for any player.
Memorable Subway Series moment: Hitting two home runs, including the game-tying one, in the Yankees’ 8-7 win on Sept. 11, 2021
Designated hitter: Hideki Matsui, Yankees
32 games, 131 PA, .310/.389/.586, 9 HR, 31 RBI
Perhaps it’s unfair to name a DH, given that the Mets didn’t have a full-time one for 24 of the first 25 years the series was played. Even so, Matsui was the runaway winner here, with an OPS topped by only Judge and Lindor among players with at least 50 plate appearances in the Subway Series.
Memorable Subway Series moment: The night Castillo dropped that popup, Matsui had turned the game around with a three-run homer in the sixth off Jon Switzer
Pinch hitter: Matt Franco, Mets
12 games, 21 PA, .350/.381/.400, 0 HR, 2 RBI
If we’re going to pick a DH, which favors the Yankees, let’s add a pinch-hitter who favors the Mets, and that’s got to be Franco. His overall pinch-hitting record against the Yankees was solid — 3-for-10 with a walk — but Franco is the pick for those two RBIs. His two-out, game-winning single off Mariano Rivera in July 1999 capped one of the best games these teams ever played.
Memorable Subway Series moment: Yeah, that one.
Left-handed starter: Oliver Pérez, Mets
4 games started, 4-0, 1.50 ERA
Who did you expect: Andy Pettitte or Leiter? While those two each led their team in Subway Series starts (16 for Pettitte, 10 for Leiter, not including their two battles in the World Series), Pérez won each of his four starts against the Yankees in 2007 and 2008. He pitched at least seven innings in each of them, and the Mets needed that kind of pitching performance to win most of the time: The final scores of Pérez’s wins were 3-2, 2-0, 11-2 and 3-1.
Memorable Subway Series moment: His first start against the Yankees in June 2008, with 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball, helped the Mets split the series and tread water before going on a long winning streak a week later
Right-handed starter: A.J. Burnett, Yankees
3 games started, 3-0, 1.33 ERA
Were you thinking Mike Mussina or Jacob deGrom? Each had pedestrian ERAs in the Subway Series (compared to their career averages). Like Pérez, Burnett won each of his Subway Series starts, including a pair of starts with seven shutout innings two weeks apart in June 2009.
Memorable Subway Series moment: Seven one-hit innings with 10 strikeouts in a 5-0 win in June 2009.
Closer: Mariano Rivera, Yankees
34 games, 3.53 ERA, 20 saves
The Mets actually got to Rivera more than just about any other team; he had a higher career ERA against only the Angels. Franco, Wright and Lucas Duda all had game-winners off him. Still, he has four times as many saves as anyone else in this rivalry, and how memorable those exceptions are proves just how dominant Rivera was year after year.
Memorable Subway Series moment: Improbably, it came at the plate and not on the mound, when he worked a bases-loaded walk against Francisco Rodríguez
