Only 5 years old in 2000, Cody Bellinger spent parts of the first and only World Series between the Yankees and Mets in the bowels of old Yankee Stadium.
His father, Clay, played in that Fall Classic for the Bombers. Bellinger also played during that series… in the Yankees’ family room.
“My mom put me in the playroom,” Bellinger said, “and she went to watch the game peacefully.”
Bellinger added that there are home movies of him attending those games and the Yankees’ parade down the Canyon of Heroes – they beat the Mets in five tries – but all of his memories from that World Series stem from his family’s camcorder. After getting his first taste of the Subway Series as a big leaguer, however, it wouldn’t come as a shock if Bellinger followed in his father’s footsteps this October.
“Both teams are playing really well,” said Bellinger, who totaled seven hits, seven RBI, two home runs and a grand slam as the Yankees took 2-of-3 from the Mets at Yankee Stadium this past weekend. “They have a good team over there. The lineup’s really good. They’re pitching really well. And obviously for us over here, I really like what we’re doing. I love the guys in this locker room, and I think we’re playing really good baseball overall.”
Pete Alonso, who made a costly throwing error late in the Mets’ 8-2 loss on Sunday, seemed to be in agreement with both New York clubs in first place.
“That’s a great team over there,” he said. “That’s the beautiful part about playing in the Subway Series. No matter which side you’re on, it’s that electric environment and it’s really fun. This is really fun baseball.”
With the Yankees and Mets considered championship contenders in the season’s early going, a repeat of 2000 is within the realm of possibility.
A second World Series matchup between these two would come with no shortage of storylines in any year, but with Juan Soto in his first season with the Mets after ditching the Yankees this past winter, the drama would be off the charts. Such was the case this past weekend, as the Bronx faithful showered the $765-million man with deafening boos, taunts and obscenities.
It was an entirely predictable reaction for a player who helped the Yankees reach the World Series in 2024, Soto’s only season with the club.
“It was to be expected a little bit,” said Clarke Schmidt, who had to raise the volume on his PitchCom while facing Soto on Saturday. “I think he knew that as well.
“If it’s like this 1747655069, I can imagine it’s going to be turned up a couple notches [in October].”
The Mets have traditionally been viewed as the little brother in this crosstown rivalry, but that dynamic started to shift when owner Steve Cohen took control of the club a few years ago. Soto’s defection, meanwhile, fully cemented the Mets as financial and competitive heavyweights alongside the Yanks.
Now both teams are hoping to end title droughts, as the pinstripers haven’t won it all since 2009, eons in Yankees years. The Amazin’s, on the other hand, last won in 1986 with the help of Boston’s Bill Buckner.
While neither squad’s manager wanted to get ahead of themselves with lots of regular season baseball left to play, Aaron Boone said a rematch in the World Series would be “crazy” and “pretty epic.”
Carlos Mendoza, the Yankees’ former bench coach and a close friend of Boone’s, added that the first Subway Series of the season felt like “playoff-type games” despite taking place in mid-May.
“When you’ve got two teams playing in one of the biggest markets in the world, it’s pretty cool,” he continued.
For now, the Mets can look for revenge this summer, as it will be Citi Field’s turn to host regular season Subway Series games over Fourth of July weekend.
But while more non-postseason games await these two teams, some are already imagining the thrill – and benefits – of a Fall Classic face-off.
“It’d be sick,” Alonso said. “That’d be probably the best postseason matchup ever because you don’t have to go on the road. You have seven home games, because it’s all in the same city, so there’s no cross-country flights, no travel. There’s no dealing with the great wall of traffic out of JFK.”
