2009 World Series - Series Summary

Series Summary

The Series started on October 28, 2009, which was the latest start in World Series history. Game 4 was played on Sunday, November 1 and the series-winning Game 6 took place on November 4. The Series was only the third to end in a month other than October. The first came in 1918, which was played entirely in September after the regular season was cut short due to World War I. The other such series was in 2001 when the September 11 attacks caused a delay in the baseball season that eventually forced the end of the World Series into November.

Earlier in the season Commissioner Bud Selig expressed interest in scheduling a World Series game during daylight hours instead of the evening. The starting times were ultimately moved before 8 p.m. ET for the first time in 30 years, but no day games were played. The Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL) played across the street from Citizens Bank Park at Lincoln Financial Field on the day of Game 4. The NFL moved that game's kickoff time to 1 p.m. to avoid it ending too close to the start of Game 4. Similarly, Game 5 was played at Citizens Bank Park on the same day as the Philadelphia Flyers hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League (NHL) at the Wachovia Center. The opening faceoff of the hockey game was scheduled for 7 p.m. but the NHL moved it to 5 p.m. to avoid conflict.

The umpires for the series were Joe West, Dana DeMuth, Gerry Davis, Brian Gorman, Jeff Nelson, and Mike Everitt. The World Series crew had included at least 1 umpire who had never worked the World Series in 24 of the past 25 series; however, following several mistakes by umpires in earlier rounds of the playoffs, this crew did not.

The Phillies had won the previous season's World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays for the franchise's second championship. The Yankees lost their previous World Series appearance to the Florida Marlins in 2003 and had not won since 2000 against the New York Mets. This was the fifth Series played between teams from New York and Philadelphia, and was the first Yankees–Phillies matchup since 1950. The series was also the fourth consecutive time that the Phillies faced a team from the current AL East in the World Series, while the Yankees had faced a NL East opponent in three of their four most recent World Series appearances. This Series was nicknamed the "Turnpike Series", for the New Jersey Turnpike, which connects New York to Philadelphia through the state of New Jersey. Major League Baseball nicknamed it the "Liberty Series", based on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and the Statue of Liberty in New York.