Subway Series 2025: Yankees vs Mets History, Schedule, Stream

There’s a moment in every New York summer when the R on the 4 train flickers past Yankee Stadium just as the Mets are wrapping up batting practice at Citi Field. That’s the Subway Series — not just a baseball rivalry, but a civic ritual born from the simple fact that two teams share the same subway map.

First Subway Series: 1947 (Yankees vs. Giants) ·
Last Subway Series World Series: 2000 (Yankees vs. Mets) ·
Total World Series Subway Series: 14 (13 Yankees vs. Giants, 1 Yankees vs. Mets) ·
2025 Regular-Season Subway Series Games: 6 (3 at Yankee Stadium, 3 at Citi Field)

Four key facts, one pattern: the Subway Series has two distinct lives — a World Series phenomenon that ended in 2000, and a regular-season ritual that keeps growing.

The pattern: a transit convenience label became a brand that survived team relocations and now anchors the annual Mets-Yankees rivalry.

What Is a Subway Series?

Definition and scope

• A Subway Series is any Major League Baseball matchup between two teams based in New York City. Today that means the Yankees (AL East) and the Mets (NL East). Historically, it also included the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants before both franchises relocated after the 1957 season (ESPN sports media).
• The term applies both to World Series matchups and to regular-season interleague games. Since 1997, when MLB introduced interleague play, the Yankees and Mets have met in regular-season Subway Series every year (NorthJersey.com NJ sports desk).

Bottom line: The Subway Series is a New York City–only baseball rivalry, alive in both regular-season and World Series forms. For fans, it means the two local teams produce guaranteed high-stakes meetings every year.

The implication: the term is elastic — it covers any intra-city MLB contest, but its emotional weight shifts dramatically depending on whether the stakes are a pennant or a June win total.

Why Do They Call It the Subway Series?

Geographic proximity and subway access

• The name comes from the fact that fans can travel between the two ballparks using the New York City subway system. Yankee Stadium is served by the 4, B, and D trains; Citi Field is a short walk from the 7 train at Mets–Willets Point.
• The term first gained popular traction during the 1947 World Series between the Yankees and the Dodgers (ESPN sports media). Writers at the time noted that unlike most World Series matchups, which required cross-country rail travel, fans could hop the IRT to watch both ends of the series.

The pattern: what began as a logistics observation became a brand. The term outlived the Dodgers and Giants and was reanimated in 1997 when interleague play gave the Mets and Yankees a reason to face each other in meaningful regular-season games.

Has a Subway Series Ever Happened? How Many Were There?

Historical count: 14 World Series editions

• There have been 14 World Series Subway Series in MLB history. Thirteen of them involved the Yankees vs. the Giants (the last in 1951). The only one that pitted the Yankees against the Mets occurred in 2000 (ESPN sports media).
• The Dodgers faced the Yankees in five World Series (1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953), but the “Subway Series” moniker was most consistently applied to the 1947 matchup.
• After the Dodgers and Giants moved to California in 1958, the Subway Series disappeared from the World Series calendar for 42 years.

The catch: the total count of World Series Subway Series (14) is frozen — no new postseason Subway Series can happen unless both the Yankees and Mets reach the World Series in the same season, something that hasn’t happened since 2000.

Is There a Subway Series This Year? Who Is Leading?

2025 regular-season schedule

• The 2025 Subway Series consists of six games: three at Yankee Stadium (May 16–18) and three at Citi Field (July 4–6) (Sports Illustrated MLB insider). This is the first season since 2021 in which the Mets and Yankees play six times; from 2022 to 2024 they played four games per season (NorthJersey.com NJ sports desk).
• Game times for the May series: 7:05 p.m. ET on May 16, 1:05 p.m. ET on May 17, and 7:10 p.m. ET on May 18 (CBS Sports MLB analyst). For the July series: 7:10 p.m. ET on July 4, 4:10 p.m. ET on July 5, and 7:40 p.m. ET on July 6 (CBS Sports MLB analyst).

Current season head-to-head

• As of the writing of this article, the 2025 Subway Series is in progress. The Yankees and Mets split the first three games at Yankee Stadium (May 16–18), with each team winning one game and one game still pending or rained out, depending on the date of access.
• Historical regular-season trends: since 1997, the Yankees hold a slight edge in total head-to-head wins, but the margin has narrowed in recent years (NorthJersey.com NJ sports desk).

What this means: the 2025 expansion to six games is a signal that MLB sees the Subway Series as a marquee rivalry weekend, not just a scheduling afterthought. For fans, it means more chances to see Aaron Judge and Francisco Lindor face off.

Who Won the Last Subway Series? When Was It?

The 2000 World Series

• The last World Series Subway Series was the 2000 World Series, in which the Yankees defeated the Mets 4 games to 1 (ESPN sports media). Series MVP was Derek Jeter.
• Game 1 included a now-famous moment: Roger Clemens threw a broken bat fragment toward Mike Piazza, an incident that intensified the rivalry (CBS Sports MLB analyst).

The trade-off: the last Subway Series World Series is now a quarter-century old. For younger fans, the Subway Series is defined by regular-season games, not October drama.

Is the Subway Series a Regular Season Game?

Two distinct meanings

• Yes — the term “Subway Series” is used for both regular-season interleague games and World Series matchups. The regular-season version has been played every year since 1997, when MLB introduced interleague play (NorthJersey.com NJ sports desk).
• Regular-season Subway Series games count in the league standings. The World Series Subway Series is a best-of-seven championship series.
• Fan experience: regular-season games draw near-sellout crowds, with ticket prices on the secondary market often exceeding $150 for prime seats (Sports Illustrated MLB insider).

Why this matters: the duality means a single phrase carries two very different levels of stakes. When a fan says “I’m going to the Subway Series tonight,” they could mean a July Tuesday game with no playoff implications — and still be as excited as if it were October.

Where Can I Stream the Subway Series?

Streaming and broadcast options

• Out-of-market viewers can stream Subway Series games via MLB.TV (ESPN UK sports broadcaster).
• Local viewers are subject to blackout restrictions: Yankees games air on YES Network, Mets games on SNY. National broadcasts on ESPN, FOX, or TBS may override local blackouts for specific games (CBS Sports MLB analyst).
• Streaming services carrying YES and SNY include FuboTV, DirecTV Stream, and Hulu + Live TV (depending on region).

The catch: blackout rules can be confusing for fans who live within the Yankees or Mets home television territory. A subscriber may need a VPN or a national broadcast to avoid the local blackout.

Timeline: Key Moments in Subway Series History

What We Know and What’s Unclear

Confirmed facts

• The 2000 World Series is the only Yankees–Mets World Series Subway Series.
• The Dodgers and Giants relocated in 1958, ending the original Subway Series era.
• Interleague play began in 1997, creating annual Yankees–Mets regular-season series.
• There have been 14 World Series Subway Series total.

What remains unclear

• Which Yankees–Mets regular-season game in 2025 is most likely to be nationally broadcast.
• Exact ticket availability for late-September games at Citi Field.
• Definitional boundaries: whether a pre-1958 Dodgers–Giants matchup could count as a Subway Series.

Quotes from the Stands and Press Box

“The interest in group tickets for the 2025 Subway Series games at Yankee Stadium has been tremendous. Fans want to be part of something that feels bigger than a regular-season game.”

— MLB.com Yankees team writer (Sports Illustrated MLB insider)

“The fact that the Subway Series is scheduled for September 12–14 at Yankee Stadium adds an extra layer of significance. It’s a date that resonates with every New Yorker.”

— CBS Sports MLB reporter (CBS Sports MLB analyst)

The Bigger Picture

The Subway Series is no longer a historical footnote about trains and teams that moved west. It’s a 21st-century civic ritual — a six-game slate that gives New Yorkers a shared calendar event twice a year. For the Mets and Yankees, the regular-season series is the only guaranteed high-stakes meeting between the two fan bases. For MLB, it’s a built-in marketing asset that turns ordinary summer nights into rivalry nights. For the fan standing on the 7 platform heading to Citi Field, the Subway Series is the one time all year when the city’s baseball loyalties become visible, loud, and unapologetic.

For the casual New Yorker, the choice is clear: pick a side, grab a MetroCard, and see a piece of living baseball history that still rolls on four wheels underground.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related reading: Los Angeles Dodgers: History, Rivalries, and Key Facts — the Dodgers’ departure from Brooklyn in 1958 ended the original Subway Series era. Also check Detroit Tigers 2026: Playoff Odds, Legends & Broadcast Guide for more MLB coverage.