Since the arrival of interleague play in 1997, there have been nearly a regular season’s worth of regular season games played between the New York Mets and the New York Yankees. These 152 games have included some of the many feats and oddities you’d expect from a season’s worth of play, from three-homer games to wacky walk-offs to proper routs. They’ve also seen certain players distinguish themselves from the pack, whether for specific in-game accomplishments or cumulative totals.
As another edition
of the Subway Series is set to begin—this time featuring a whole new cast of Mets ready to make their mark on the crosstown rivalry—it seems a fitting moment to check in on the state of the series’ record book, from all-time leaders to single-game leaders to Statcast superlatives. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but rather a sampling of some of the standout highlights. So let’s hop on board, stand clear of the closing doors, and take a brief ride through 29 seasons of Subway Series baseball…
Most Hits, GAME
Brett Gardner (5) – June 26, 2009
Rookie Brett Gardner gave Citi Field a rude introduction to the Subway Series. The 25-year-old hit leadoff, going 5-for-6 with three singles, a double, and a late homer off Elmer Dessens in the veteran right-hander’s second game as a Met. Pesky as ever, all three of Gardner’s singles came on softly-hit flairs which found grass just beyond the infield, while his homer barely cleared the fence in the right-field corner. The Mets’ only offense in the 9-1 loss came courtesy of Gary Sheffield’s 509th (and penultimate) career home run.
Most Home Runs, GAME
Francisco Lindor (3) – September 12, 2021
The only three-homer game in Subway Series history belongs to Francisco Lindor, who accomplished the feat in the midst of a relatively underwhelming first season in Flushing. Lindor carried a .222 average and .696 OPS into the night, but all that seemed to disappear as he hit a trio of clutch homers (two of them putting the Mets in the lead) during an emotional subway series on the 20th anniversary of September 11, 2001. Lindor got his first curtain call, his first of many iconic Mets moments, and his only career three-homer game to date.
Most RBI, GAME
Carlos Delgado (9) – September 27, 2008
Forget Subway Series records — Carlos Delgado’s nine-RBI effort in the first game of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium tied a Mets franchise record. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, he tallied all his RBI in just four innings. In the top of the fifth, he laced a two-run single. In the sixth, he crushed a grand slam to the back of the bleachers in right-center field. In the eighth, he punctuated the performance with a three-run homer off future Met LaTroy Hawkins.
Most Strikeouts, GAME
Jacob deGrom (12) – August 13, 2018 / Dillon Gee (12) – May 30, 2013
Both of these 12-strikeout performances came on the road at Yankee Stadium, and contrary to what you might guess, Gee’s outing was actually far more dominant than deGrom’s. The 2018 Cy Young Award winner allowed three runs (two of them earned) on five hits and two walks in 6.2 innings of work, while Gee went 7.1 innings and allowed just one run on a solo shot from Robinson Canó.
Gee has another entry on the Subway Series leaderboard, as his start on July 2, 2011 is tied with Tylor Megill’s on September 10, 2021 for most whiffs (18) by a Met, but Masahiro Tanaka has them both beat with 22 on May 14, 2014. The day after that Tanaka masterpiece, the Yankees were set to face Gee’s spot in the Mets’ rotation, but the right-hander went down with a lat strain. The Yankees instead faced a 26-year-old making his MLB debut named…Jacob deGrom. In classic deGrom fashion, he ended up on the short end of a 1-0 pitchers’ duel. It was the first 1-0 finale in Subway Series history, and the only one to date.
Most Hits, CAREER
1. Derek Jeter (131)
2. Alex Rodriguez (65)
3. David Wright (62)
4. Robinson Canó (61)
5. Brett Gardner/José Reyes (53)
Jeter laps the field here. Literally. His 131 Subway Series hits are more than double any other player’s total, accumulated over 88 games played (which also rank first). A-Rod, Wright, and Canó are neck-and-neck in the battle for second place, with 7 of Canó’s 61 hits coming in a Mets uniform. But just as predictable as Jeter’s ranking atop this leaderboard was Wright’s ranking atop the Mets’ side. The 12th of his 62 hits, a soaring single to straightaway center off Mariano Rivera, represented one of the most memorable walk-offs in franchise history,
Most Home Runs, CAREER
1. Aaron Judge (14)
2. Derek Jeter/Alex Rodriguez (13)
3. Jorge Posada (12)
4. Pete Alonso/Robinson Canó/Curtis Granderson/Mark Teixeira (11)
Judge’s solo homer off Justin Hagenman on July 3 last season moved him into a tie with Jeter and A-Rod, and his two-run homer off Brandon Waddell two days later made him the Subway Series’ new home run king. Alonso was climbing up the leaderboard at a breakneck pace, clubbing 11 homers in 32 games against the Bombers. This likely would have been a two-man race for years to come if Alonso had returned to the Mets, but instead he has taken his Yankee-killing talents to Baltimore, picking up right where he left off with a pair of homers in his first series back in the Bronx earlier this month. That leaves Judge to continue adding to his total relatively unthreatened. Canó and Granderson, meanwhile, sneak into the leaderboard with help from stints on both side of the rivalry.
Most Stolen Bases, CAREER
1. Derek Jeter (19)
2. José Reyes (14)
3. Roger Cedeño/Alfonso Soriano (9)
5. David Wright (8)
This is a Roger Cedeño stat. Jeter, Reyes, and Wright all had over 200 Subway Series plate appearances to climb their way onto this leaderboard. Soriano had 99. Cedeño had 71. In 17 Subway Series games, Cedeño slashed .323/.371/.492. Five of his nine stolen bases came during 1999 (a season in which he swiped 66 bags for the Mets) and one of those five was a steal of home. The other four came in his second stint in New York from ’02-’03. Still, the accumulators win out, with Jeter and Reyes unsurprisingly leading the pack.
Most Saves, CAREER
1. Mariano Rivera (20)
2. Armando Benítez/Edwin Díaz/Billy Wagner (5)
5. Aroldis Chapman/Francisco Rodríguez (4)
Behind Rivera, who accounts for over 25% of saves recorded for either side in Subway Series history, a trio of Mets closers are tied for second place despite varying degrees of effectiveness. Wagner pitched to a 4.66 ERA in 9.2 IP, Benítez maintained a respectable 3.00 ERA in 15 IP, and Díaz was absolutely dominant, posting an 0.96 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 9.1 IP. A pair of fireballers in Chapman and Rodríguez are tied at fifth. The players with the most likely chance to enter the leaderboard this season are ex-Yankees Luke Weaver and Devin Williams, each of whom picked up a Subway Series save against the Mets last season.
Longest-projected Home Run (Statcast era/since 2015)
1. Aaron Judge (457 ft) – August 16, 2017
2. Aaron Judge (453 ft) – August 23, 2022 / Gary Sánchez (453 ft) – August 30, 2020
4. Giancarlo Stanton (443 ft) – September 12, 2021 / Juan Soto (443 ft) – July 24, 2024
6. Francisco Lindor (436 ft) – September 12, 2021
Judge’s mammoth 457-foot blast off Robert Gsellman on August 16, 2017 landed in the third deck in left field, and landed him a share of the tenth spot on the list of longest homers hit at Citi Field (his teammate Stanton has the No. 2 entry on that list). Lindor’s second homer in his three-homer game sits at sixth as the highest Mets entry on this leaderboard, one of two dingers included from that game along with Stanton’s game-tying shot a half inning later. Judge and Sánchez split second place, each with a homer well up the left-center-field bleachers at Yankee Stadium (though for Sánchez’s homer, a go-ahead grand slam off Drew Smith in August 2020, the bleachers were eerily empty). Soto, meanwhile, ranks with a moonshot to Monument Park off future teammate Sean Manaea.
Fastest Pitch (Pitch-tracking era/since 2008)
1. Aroldis Chapman (102.7 mph) – August 15, 2017
2. Aroldis Chapman (101.9 mph) – June 9, 2018
3. Aroldis Chapman (101.6 mph) – June 9, 2018
4. Aroldis Chapman (101.5 mph) – June 9, 2018
5. Aroldis Chapman (101.3 mph) – June 9, 2018
6. Bobby Parnell (101.1 mph) – July 1, 2011
The five fastest pitches all belong to Chapman, with four of those coming in one inning to a trio of 2018 Mets including José Reyes, José Bautista, and Devin Mesoraco. But the single fastest pitch he threw in a Subway Series game resulted in a game-ending grounder off the bat of Juan Lagares ten months earlier. The sixth-fastest (and top ranked by a Met) belongs to Bobby Parnell, who recorded what’s listed as a 101.1 mph fastball to strike out Nick Swisher and end the top of the eighth inning in a Mets loss. You wouldn’t be wrong though to look quizzically at this listing; it’s the only pitch Parnell threw in his career which registered higher than 100.4 mph, meaning that if the 101.1 mph reading is correct, he would have had to dial it up 0.7 mph on this pitch and this pitch alone.
Biggest Wins
1. Yankees 15, Mets 0 – June 14, 2009
2. Mets 12, Yankees 2 – June 26, 2024 / Mets 12, Yankees 2 – June 9, 2000
June 14, 2009 was not Johan Santana’s day. The left-hander entered the start with a 2.39 ERA and exited with a 3.29 ERA after allowing nine runs in three innings of work. The Yankees didn’t stop there, racking up four more runs off Brian Stokes and getting another pair off Jon Switzer, marking the third-to-last outing of the latter’s career. Jeter went 4-for-4, while Hideki Matsui and Robinson Canó both went deep. Somehow, it was not the Mets’ most deflating loss of the series, as two days earlier an infamous pop-up popped in and out of the glove of Luis Castillo. But the Mets have more Subway Series wins by a 10+ margin, with 12-2 victories in 2000 and 2024. Each featured a trio of homers — the first from Mike Piazza, Edgardo Alfonzo, and Derek Bell, and the second from Francisco Alvarez, Tyrone Taylor, and Harrison Bader. The first game also came in an Al Leiter/Roger Clemens pitchers’ duel which turned out one-sided.
Longest/Shortest Games
Longest: Yankees 4, Mets 2 (f/10) (4 hours, 36 minutes) – June 14, 2002
Shortest: Yankees 4, Mets 2 (f/7) (2 hours, 14 minutes) – July 4, 2021
There’s a cruel irony in the fact that the longest and shortest games in Subway Series history — two polar opposite games in some respects — ended up with the exact same result. The ’02 marathon’s length was no doubt aided by Mets starter Steve Trachsel, often referred to as “The Human Rain Delay” for his slow pitching pace. The Mets led 2-0 at Shea Stadium by virtue of a walk and passed ball in the third inning, but the Yankees clawed back with an RBI single from Bernie Williams in the eighth and another by Derek Jeter in the ninth to tie it. A homer from then-Yankee Robin Ventura in the top of the tenth was the deciding factor. The ’21 sprint was aided by the short-lived seven-inning-doubleheader rule, allowing the low-offense contest (the two teams combined for seven total hits in seven innings) to conclude abruptly when the seventh-inning stretch would normally occur.
Walk-Off Wins
Mets: 10 (Luis López, Matt Franco, Shane Spencer, David Wright, Jason Bay, Lucas Duda, Amed Rosario*, Pete Alonso*, Starling Marte, Brandon Nimmo)
Yankees: 5 (Tino Martinez, Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, Russell Martin*, Gio Urshela)
* = walk-off home run
If there’s one area of the Subway Series where the Mets have properly outdone the Yankees, it’s walk-offs. The Mets have twice as many walk-off victories as the Bronx Bombers, with the total reaching double digits as of Brandon Nimmo’s double off Nick Ramirez in June 2023.
But I close the journey through Subway Series records with this stat not only for its uplifting Mets slant, but also because there is one related feat still up for grabs: no player has racked up multiple Subway Series walk-offs.
This season, there’s a prime candidate in Amed Rosario, who oddly enough already has a walk-off at Yankee Stadium against the Yankees during a chaotic covid scheduling snafu. Has anyone ever had a walk-off hit for and against the same team in the same stadium? Some cities’ teams shared ballparks back in the early 20th century, but those teams were divided by league in a time before interleague play. It would come at the cost of a Mets win, but if Rosario pulled it off, he could earn himself a distinction in baseball history as well as Subway Series history.
