Twenty-five years ago today, the New York Yankees beat the New York Mets in Game 5 of the 2000 World Series. It remains, to this day, the only championship meeting between the two teams.

The final out, Mike Piazza’s deep fly to center, landed in Bernie Williams’ glove just a minute after midnight. It was the culmination of an epic week — a week, as Michael Kay remembers it, when “New York baseball was the center of the universe.”

This is the story of the city, the stakes, the noise, as remembered by those who played it, called it, lived it. God bless October baseball.

’TIS THE SEASON

Andy Pettitte (Yankees starting pitcher): “We had been World Champs, but this one was different.”