Liberty star Breanna Stewart was prepared for her moment in the Bronx.
The 6-4 superstar had the honor of throwing the ceremonial first pitch for Sunday’s Subway Series rubber match at Yankee Stadium. Stewart, a right-hander with the same height and similar frame as Sunday’s Yankee starter Max Fried, used a short leg kick and delivered to catcher J.C. Escarra.
The pitch was low and outside, but a respectable offer from the basketball player. She gets a bit more respect for tossing the pitch from the rubber. Bonus points for keeping the championship ring on her left hand.
Breanna Stewart’s first pitch . Ball or strike? you be the umpire pic.twitter.com/dQKrr7KN8o
— Fiifi Frimpong (@FiifiFrimpong) May 18, 2025
“I was definitely throwing from the rubber. I’ve seen some other people not throw from the mound, but I didn’t wanna do that. I threw before in Seattle. I had some practice in the back,” said Stewart, who shared the moment with a handful of Liberty teammates behind the mound.
“I want to try from where the real pros throw,” she said.
Stewart, the North Syracuse native, grew up a Yankees fan and was well aware of the tense rivalry game that took place after her first pitch. She said having her ceremony during a Subway Series was “a big deal for our entire family.” And the three-time WNBA champion reminisced about her past years watching favorite players in pinstripes, including Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.
“It’s Yankees or bust. I feel like I signed to the Yankees honestly,” she said.
With Juan Soto’s return to the Bronx for the first time since signing a 15-year, $765 million deal with the Mets, emotions were high around the Bronx. Yankee fans booed Soto throughout the weekend. They were also treated to tight games between two first-place, playoff bound teams.
Fans treated the relationship between the Yankees and Mets — even before Soto’s presence — as a rivalry for when the two teams faced off in the summer. Stewart gets that similar feeling when playing a certain WNBA franchise — the one her team defeated in Saturday’s home opener.
“I would say Vegas,” Stewart said when asked who are the Liberty’s rival. She decisively chose A’ja Wilson’s squad opposed to the Minnesota Lynx, the team the Liberty defeated in a thrilling five-game series in the 2024 WNBA Finals.
Following Stewart’s arrival to New York in 2023, the Liberty and Aces were branded the league’s superteams at the time. The Aces defeated the Liberty, 3-1, in the 2023 WNBA Finals. The Liberty then eliminated the Aces in the second-round playoff series in 2024. And after raising the franchise’s first banner to the Barclays Center rafters on Saturday, the Liberty defeated the Aces for the first win of the season.
“It’s like the way that we had the game last night, just because us and Vegas, We have a history. We have like the drama. We have the storylines. We have the players going head-to-head.”
The Liberty and Aces definitely have a long way to go in terms of the rivalry’s longevity to fully compare to the Subway Series. The heated summer baseball series started in 1997, the same year the WNBA had its first-ever game. At the time, the Aces were known as the Utah Starzz. The franchise later relocated to San Antonio in 2002 and again moved to its current city in 2018.
But as it stands, Stewart believes the two rivalries share a common ground: healthy competition.
“I think a healthy rivalry is similar to what you saw last night. Our fans are booing Vegas, and when we go to Vegas, we’re going to get booed. And similar situation to what you’re going to see here today. I saw yesterday when the fans were turning their backs on Soto.
“That’s the luxury of the sport. That’s what sports is all about, is having passionate fans behind you, like we do at Liberty games, like they do here for the Yankees.”
