The 2000 American League Championship Series (ALCS) was a matchup between the East Division champion New York Yankees and the Wild Card Seattle Mariners. The Yankees had advanced to the Series after beating the West Division champion Oakland Athletics in the ALDS three games to two and the Mariners advanced by beating the Central Division champion Chicago White Sox three games to none. The Yankees won the Series four games to two and went on to defeat the New York Mets in the World Series to win their third consecutive World Series championship, 26th overall.
Summary
New York Yankees vs. Seattle Mariners
Game summaries
Game 1
The opener at Yankee Stadium on a cool night was a pitchers' duel between Freddy García and Denny Neagle, and the game was scoreless through four innings. In the top of the fifth, Mark McLemore got Seattle's first hit, a two-out ground-rule double lined down the left field line, then scored on a Rickey Henderson single slapped to right field. Alex Rodriguez led off the sixth inning with a home run high off the left field foul pole's screen to give the M's another. In the bottom half, Chuck Knoblauch led off with a double and Derek Jeter walked; Paul O'Neill and Bernie Williams struck out, then David Justice flew out deep to center to end the threat. The Yankees outhit the Mariners by one, but could not score off García ( innings) and relievers José Paniagua, Arthur Rhodes, and Kazuhiro Sasaki; Seattle took the opener with a 2–0 shutout.
Game 2
Game 2 started just after 4 pm EDT, and the sun was difficult in the outfield for the first three innings. The Yankees' offense was again dead silent, this time against Mariner starter John Halama and reliever José Paniagua. In the first, New York loaded the bases (without a hit) and no outs, but could not score. Bernie Williams' ground ball went just inches and M's catcher Dan Wilson grabbed it, stepped on home, and threw to first for the double play; Tino Martinez then grounded out to second. In the top of the second, Seattle threatened with a leadoff walk by Edgar Martínez followed by a lunging single to center by John Olerud. Al Martin flew out to deep right center and the two advanced. David Bell lined the ball back to Orlando Hernández, who doubled up Olerud at second to end the inning.
Hernández pitched eight innings and gave up just one run, a Stan Javier single in the third that scored Mike Cameron, who had walked with two outs and stole second, after nearly being picked off at first. Hernández gave up six hits, but was set to get the loss until the Yankees' offense exploded in the eighth against Arthur Rhodes and José Mesa. David Justice led off with a double and scored on a single by Williams to tie the game, New York's first run in 21 innings. Back-to-back singles by Martinez and Jorge Posada then gave New York a 2–1 lead. Paul O'Neill then hit a sacrifice fly to score another. Mesa replaced Rhodes for Seattle and gave up a single to Luis Sojo. Posada was caught diving back to third for the second out on a safety squeeze; José Vizcaíno then doubled to left center to score Sojo from first to make it 4–1 Yankees. Vizcaíno went to third on a passed ball, scored on a Chuck Knoblauch single up the middle, and Derek Jeter sliced a homer to right to make it 7–1. Up again, Justice fouled off several and flew out to center to end the lengthy inning. Closer Mariano Rivera pitched a scoreless ninth: Olerud sliced a ground-rule double to lead off, but three ground balls ended the game; the series was tied at 1–1 and headed to Seattle.
Game 3
The Mariners struck first in Game 3 on three consecutive singles in the first, the last of which by Edgar Martínez off Andy Pettitte scored Mike Cameron from second. The Yankees responded with back-to-back home runs from Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez to lead off the second off Aaron Sele. The M's threatened with two on and no outs, but could not score. New York extended their lead to 3–1 in the third when Derek Jeter, who reached on a fielder's choice to avoid an inning-ending double play, scored on a double to left-center by David Justice.