The spookiest day of the year is here, and baseball is still ongoing. The Toronto Blue Jays are one win away from taking home their third World Series title and their first since the 1993 season, when
they won back-to-back championships after defeating the Philadelphia Phillies in a six-game series.
With Game 6 between the Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers occurring on Halloween, it seemed prudent to look back on when the Yankees were playing in the Fall Classic and if they ever played games on Halloween, which they did twice, including a game with one extremely famous moment for one Yankees captain.
Game 4, 2001 World Series vs. Arizona Diamondbacks
This was actually the first MLB game in history on Halloween, as the World Series never went that deep into October in the past; however, the league’s pause after the 9/11 attacks pushed everything back a week. First pitch occurred at 8:33 p.m. local time, and almost 56,000 fans in attendance on Halloween night were not aware they were going to witness one of the most famous Yankee moments in the franchise’s history, but they knew just how important this game was. Although the ‘01 Yanks were eyeing their fourth consecutive crown, they trailed Arizona in the series, 2-1, with Game 1 victor and eventual NL Cy Young runner-up Curt Schilling getting the ball on short rest against Orlando “El Duque” Hernández.
The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning, but the Diamondbacks responded with a run of their own on a Mark Grace homer to tie the game at one, and the score remained that way through the fourth and fifth. A great throw home from Shane Spencer and tag by Jorge Posada nailed Tony Womack at the plate in the latter frame preserved the 1-1 score.
The sixth and seventh innings were quiet for both offenses, setting the tone for what was to be an exciting finish. El Duque departed after 6.1 innings of one-run ball, while Schilling departed after seven stellar frames of his own.
The D-Backs offense came to life in the eighth, putting Schilling in line for the win. Luis Gonzalez singled off Mike Stanton and Erubiel Durazo doubled him in to put Arizona ahead. An insurance run was scored against the man who followed Stanton, Ramiro Mendoza, as Posada couldn’t handle Derek Jeter’s throw home with a runner on third.
Arizona closer Byung-Hyun Kim entered and struck out the side in the home half of the eighth, and despite a single from Paul O’Neill in the ninth, the outlook was bleak. Kim was an out away from putting Arizona up 3-1 in the series. Longtime first baseman Tino Martinez had other plans, shaking Yankee Stadium with a two-run blast on Kim’s first pitch.
Mariano Rivera worked his postseason magic in the top of the 10th, as Yankees fans knew so well (although he would obviously have troubles when it mattered most in this series). After the clock struck midnight for the first November baseball in league history, Derek Jeter battled Kim—left in there by skipper Bob Brenly despite a pitch count running over 60—in a long at-bat that ended in an opposite-field shot into the Short Porch.
The “Mr. November” moniker was born, as Jeter etched himself even further into Yankees postseason history — and set the tone for even more madness the following night.
Game 3, 2009 World Series vs. Philadelphia Phillies
The second game the Yankees played on Halloween came eight years later against the Phillies. With Andy Pettitte on the mound in front of a packed Citizens Bank Park, the visiting Bronx Bombers were looking to gain the series lead by winning their first road game of the series following a 1-1 split in the Bronx.
Game 3 did not begin in favor of Pettitte and company, though, as the Phillies got off to a roaring start. In the bottom of the second inning, they saw three runs cross home plate after a Jayson Werth leadoff homer, a bases-loaded walk from Jimmy Rollins, and a sacrifice fly from Shane Victorino. But the Yankees responded not too long after, with a one-out, two-run home run from Alex Rodriguez against Phillies starter Cole Hamels. The ball hit off a camera just above the right-field wall and was initially ruled in play before the first replay review in World Series history righted the wrong.
The most memorable play of the night, though, came from Pettitte. However, it didn’t occur when he was on the mound; it occurred when he was in the batter’s box. A leadoff double from Nick Swisher in the top of the fifth inning and a swinging strikeout by Melky Cabrera brought Pettitte to the plate, and on the first pitch he saw from Hamels, the .138 career hitter sent it out to center field, scoring Swisher and tying the game.
Then, after a single by Jeter, Johnny Damon smoked a double to center, scoring two more runs and putting the Yankees in the lead.
Swisher added a home run in the top of the sixth, and Werth smoked another bomb for his second home run of the game in the bottom of the sixth. Then, the two teams traded home runs once again (Hideki Matsui in the top of the eighth and Carlos Ruiz in the bottom of the ninth), but the Yankees took home the victory.
Both games the Yankees have participated in on Halloween were victories. For each team remaining in this 2025 MLB postseason, they’re hoping their records end up as positive on Halloween as the Bronx Bombers.
