2009 World Series

The 2009 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2009 season. As the 105th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff contested between the Philadelphia Phillies, champions of the National League (NL) and defending World Series champions, and the New York Yankees, champions of the American League (AL). The Yankees defeated the Phillies, 4 games to 2, winning their 27th World Series championship.

The series was played between October 28 and November 4, broadcast on Fox, and watched by an average of roughly 19 million viewers. Home field advantage for the Series went to the AL for the eighth straight year as a result of its 4–3 win in the All-Star Game. The Phillies earned their berth into the playoffs by winning the National League East. The Yankees won the American League East to earn their berth, posting the best record in the Major Leagues. The Phillies reached the World Series by defeating the Colorado Rockies in the best-of-five National League Division Series and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the best-of-seven NL Championship Series (NLCS). The Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins in the American League Division Series and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the AL Championship Series (ALCS) to advance to their first World Series since 2003. As a result of their loss, the Phillies became the first team since the 2001 Yankees to lose the World Series after winning it the previous year. The Phillies were also the last defending champions to make the World Series until the 2025 Dodgers.

Cliff Lee pitched a complete game in the Phillies' Game 1 victory, allowing only one unearned run, while Chase Utley hit two home runs. In Game 2, solo home runs by Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui helped the Yankees win by a score of 3–1. After a rain delayed start, Game 3 featured more offense, with a combined six home runs and thirteen total runs en route to a Yankee victory. The Yankees won Game 4 by scoring the decisive three runs in the ninth inning after an alert base running play by Johnny Damon. The Phillies avoided elimination with a win in Game 5, aided by Utley's second two–home run game of the series. The Yankees secured their World Series championship with a Game 6 victory in which Matsui hit his third home run of the series. He was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the series, making him the first Japanese-born player and the first full-time designated hitter to win the award. Matsui was the series' MVP despite starting only the three games that were played at Yankee Stadium, since the designated hitter position was not used in NL ballparks at the time.

Several records were tied, extended, or broken during this World Series, including team championships (Yankees with 27), career postseason wins (Andy Pettitte with 18), career World Series saves (Mariano Rivera with 11), home runs in a World Series (Utley with five), strikeouts by a hitter in a World Series (Ryan Howard with 13), and runs batted in in a single World Series game (Matsui with six).

This was the seventh New York–Pennsylvania matchup in the World Series (1905, 1911, 1913, 1927, 1950, 1960). This was also the fifth meeting between teams from Philadelphia and New York City for a major professional sports championship, which previously occurred in four World Series (1905, 1911, 1913, 1950).

During the off-season, the Phillies promoted assistant general manager Rubén Amaro Jr. to general manager, succeeding Pat Gillick who retired at the end of a three-year contract. Their most notable offseason player change was in left field, as Pat Burrell departed due to free agency and was replaced by free agent Raúl Ibañez. Another notable acquisition was free agent pitcher Chan Ho Park. Park was originally signed as a backup option for the bullpen, as reliever J. C. Romero was assigned a 50-game suspension after violating the Major League Baseball drug policy, but Park won the fifth starter's job in Spring Training.

In July 2009, Phillies scouts evaluated pitcher Pedro Martínez in two simulated games against the Phillies DSL team, leading to a one-year, $1-million contract. Replacing Jamie Moyer as a starter in the Phillies rotation on August 12, 2009, Philadelphia won each of Martínez's first seven starts, the first time in franchise history that this had occurred with any debuting Phillies pitcher. The Phillies made one large acquisition at the trade deadline, trading four minor league players to the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Cliff Lee and outfielder Ben Francisco. Lee won seven of his 12 regular season starts for Philadelphia in 2009.

During the regular season, the Phillies led the National League East for most of the year, taking first place for good on May 30. Ibáñez had started the year strongly, batting well over .300 with 17 home runs and 46 runs batted in (RBI) in the first two months of the season, which led the New York Post to call him an "early MVP candidate". He was placed on the disabled list in mid-June for a groin injury, however, and though he returned he did not bat above .260 for any other month that season. Although Ibáñez did not receive MVP votes his teammates Ryan Howard and Chase Utley had successful years, finishing 3rd and 8th in the balloting respectively. The Phillies finished the season with a record of 93–69 (.574), six games above the second-place Florida Marlins in their division.