Most memorable Subway Series moments

The Subway Series always provides some must-see moments.

Both teams are in first place for this week's series at Citi Field. But regardless of where the Mets and Yankees are in the standings, their yearly showdowns rank among the MLB season's most intriguing Interleague matchups -- and the Subway Series World Series in 2000 only stoked the rivalry more.

Households are divided and bragging rights are on the line in a series that rarely lacks for signature moments. Here are the most memorable moments from Subway Series history.

1) Yankees clinch World Series (Oct. 26, 2000)

The Yankees won their third straight World Series championship and the fourth in five seasons. Rivera closed it out, Jeter won the World Series MVP Award, all in front of a Shea Stadium crowd divided in jubilation and bitterness. It doesn't get much more memorable than that.

2) Luis Castillo: The drop (June 12, 2009)

Francisco Rodriguez vs. Alex Rodriguez with the game on the line. That's how the story of K-Rod vs. A-Rod should have gone. Instead, the game came down to the Mets and their second baseman, as A-Rod's popup popped right out of Castillo's glove and into the ranks of the unforgettable Subway Series moments.

3) Clemens vs. Piazza, Part II: The bat toss (Oct. 22, 2000)

Best to measure what Clemens said with what your eyes tell you.

Here's Roger: "There was no intent." "There was no intent." "There was no intent."

And certainly no love lost.

4) Clemens vs. Piazza, Part I (July 8, 2000)

Speaking of the Piazza-Clemens saga, its opening act comes in at No. 4 on this list for the firestorm it created and the calamity it narrowly avoided. Weeks removed from allowing a grand slam to Piazza at Yankee Stadium, Clemens drilled the Mets star in the helmet when the two teams squared off at the Stadium in the nightcap of a day-night, two-stadium doubleheader.

Piazza remained on the ground for several minutes, eventually missing a week with concussion symptoms. But the most lingering effects of the incident festered in the hostile relationship it fostered between the two superstars. They would see one another again. This time, with the stakes even higher.

5) Clemens vs. Estes (July 15, 2002)

The final curtain on the Piazza-Clemens saga closed two years after Clemens used his fastball to provide the initial punch. Tabbed with enacting some long-overdue revenge, Mets starter Shawn Estes missed badly when trying to plunk Clemens early in the game. He made sure Clemens left humiliated, though, by homering off the righty later in the game. Clemens had never allowed a homer to an opposing pitcher before.

6) Jeter jumps out on top (Oct. 25, 2000)

One swing cemented Jeter's claim to the World Series MVP Award in 2000, that short, compact dagger of a cut that won Game 4 right as it began. Jeter's leadoff homer off Bobby Jones came on the first pitch and sent the Yankees sprinting toward a commanding 3-1 series lead.

7) Timo Perez thrown out (Oct. 21, 2000)

Perez went from phenom to scapegoat in one short trot around the bases late in Game 1 of the first Subway Fall Classic. The fact that it was a trot was precisely the problem.

With two outs in the sixth in a scoreless game, Perez incorrectly assumed Todd Zeile's line drive to left off Andy Pettitte would leave the yard. He jogged to second, then to third, sprinting again only when Zeile's drive bounced off the top of the fence.

History remembers that Perez was thrown out at the plate because Armando Benitez allowed the Yankees to tie the game in the ninth before they took the 1-0 Series lead on Jose Vizcaino's walk-off single in the 12th. But it's often forgotten just how great Derek Jeter's relay throw to the plate and Jorge Posada's tag of Perez were. They gave the Series its first signature moment amid the sudden dropping of Mets fans' hearts.

8) Matt Franco's walk-off single (July 10, 1999)

And now possibly the most dramatic regular-season moment between these two teams, and another walk-off win against the often infallible Rivera. This time, it was Franco who sent the crowd home happy with a ninth-inning, two-run, pinch-hit single that followed a questionable called ball on an 0-2 count.

Franco's knock capped a seesaw game that featured five lead changes and one incredible Piazza bat flip.

9) Hicks, Urshela cap wild comeback (Aug. 30, 2020)

The Yankees were down 7-2 and down to their last out in the bottom of the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium -- the last inning in Game 1 of a doubleheader played under the special 2020 rules. They had a 1-in-500 chance to win. That's when the craziness started.

Luke Voit's bases-loaded check-swing single through a vacated right side of the infield pulled the Yankees within three … but it also could have ended the game, as Thairo Estrada was almost thrown out at third base, except he didn't slide and knocked the ball out of Andrés Giménez's glove. Then Aaron Hicks turned on a 98 mph fastball from Mets closer Edwin Díaz and launched the game-tying homer to the short right-field porch. That sent the game to extra innings, and in the bottom of the eighth, Gio Urshela lined a walk-off single to give the Yankees the wild win.

10) Wright walks off (May 19, 2006)

In one of the most memorable regular-season moments between the two New York teams, Mets third baseman David Wright capped a four-run comeback to help the Mets get a walk-off win against Rivera. Wright's long hit technically only went down as a single despite flying to the center-field wall.

11) Mr. Koo's wild ride (May 21, 2005)

This might have been the unlikeliest sequence ever. Dae-Sung Koo, a reliever, only had two at-bats in his short Major League career. In his first at-bat, he stood feebly at the outer edge of the batter's box, looking more likely to flee back to the dugout than swing. But in his second at-bat, Koo pounced on none other than Randy Johnson, lacing a double to the center-field wall at Shea Stadium. Then Koo sprinted home from second on a bunt, capping off his wild ride with a dive past Jorge Posada -- all while running with a weighted practice ball still in his jacket pocket. After the game, Koo said that he hadn't run the bases since junior high.

12) The beginning (June 16, 1997)

A grand total of 56,188 fans packed the old Yankee Stadium for the first regular-season matchup between the Mets and Yanks. By the end, only 20,000 or so Mets fans remained to see Dave Mlicki complete a 6-0 shutout of the Bronx Bombers.

13) All rise: The Judge rules at Citi (Aug. 16, 2017)

After a breathtaking start out of the gate to his 2017 coming-out party, Aaron Judge was struggling through a record 37 consecutive games with at least one strikeout as the Yankees came over to Queens. But with one mighty swing, Judge showed he could still take spectators' breaths away when he was able to connect.

Judge turned around a Robert Gsellman pitch in a hurry in the series opener, connecting with a scorching 117 mph exit velocity and sending it a Statcast-projected 457 feet into the third deck of the left-field stands at Citi Field.

14) El Duque tosses glove (June 5, 1999)

Not much went wrong for the Yankees during their dynasty years, as the Mets learned firsthand during this early summer afternoon. Poor Rey Ordonez. The Mets' light-hitting shortstop couldn't catch a break when his comebacker got lodged in Orlando Hernandez's glove. El Duque threw the entire glove to first and recorded the out.

15) Gooden returns to Shea (July 8, 2000)

In Dwight Gooden's final season in the Majors, he returned -- donning Yankees pinstripes -- to the stadium where he first burst onto the scene as a 19-year-old.

Doc earned the win in the first game of a doubleheader at Shea Stadium, allowing two runs in five innings and offering up a teeny bit of nostalgia with one strikeout.