Mets and Yankees win playoff games on same day for first time in 24 years

NEW YORK (AP) — Maybe it's the start of a Subway Series ride?

For the first time in 24 years Saturday, the New York Mets and New York Yankees both won a playoff game on the same day.

Brandon Nimmo and the Mets pulled off another late comeback, scoring five times in the eighth inning at Philadelphia to beat the rival Phillies 6-2 in the opener of their National League Division Series.

About 2 1/2 hours later, the Yankees finished off a 6-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals in the Bronx behind a clutch hit and an acrobatic catch from slumping left fielder Alex Verdugo in Game 1 of their American League Division Series.

All five previous times the Mets and Yankees won postseason games on the same day came in 1999 and 2000. The most recent was Oct. 11, 2000, when the Yankees evened the AL Championship Series with a 7-1 victory at home over the Seattle Mariners in Game 2, and the Mets beat the Cardinals 6-2 in St. Louis to open their NL Championship Series.

The crosstown rivals ended up meeting in the World Series later that month for the only time, with the Yankees beating the Mets in five games for their third straight championship and fourth in five years.

That was the first Subway Series in New York City since 1956, when Don Larsen pitched a perfect game to help the Yankees knock off the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The wild-card Mets and AL East champion Yankees have baseball's two biggest payrolls this season, at more than $300 million apiece. Both teams have reached the best-of-five Division Series for the first time since 2006, when the Yankees were upset by Detroit in an ALDS and the Mets advanced to the NLCS before losing Game 7 at home to St. Louis.

Last season, both New York teams missed the playoffs for the first time in nine years.

AP Sports Writer Josh Dubow contributed to this report.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

The New York Mets celebrate after winning Game 1 of a baseball NL Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

New York Mets fans celebrate after the Mets won Game 1 of a baseball NL Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

New York Mets fans celebrate after the Mets won Game 1 of a baseball NL Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

New York Mets' Ryne Stanek, right, and Luis Torrens celebrate after they won Game 1 of a baseball NL Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

New York Yankees catcher Austin Wells (28) and outfielder Alex Verdugo celebrate after defeating the Kansas City Royals in Game 1 of the American League baseball division series, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

New York Mets' Harrison Bader (44) celebrates with teammates after they won Game 1 of a baseball NL Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge motions as he walks off the field after the Yankees defeated the Kansas City Royals in Game 1 of the American League baseball division series, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

New York Mets' Brandon Nimmo (9) and Tyrone Taylor (15) celebrate after winning Game 1 of a baseball NL Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Mets and Yankees win playoff games on same day for first time in 24 years

New York Yankees left fielder Alex Verdugo, left, center fielder Aaron Judge, center, and Juan Soto celebrate after beating the Kansas City Royals in Game 1 of the American League baseball division series, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Mets and Yankees win playoff games on same day for first time in 24 years

LONDON (AP) — Thousands of tourists, pagans, druids and people simply yearning for the promise of spring marked the dawn of the shortest day of the year at the ancient Stonehenge monument on Saturday.

Revelers cheered and beat drums as the sun rose at 8:09 a.m. (0809 GMT) over the giant standing stones on the winter solstice — the shortest day and the longest night in the Northern Hemisphere. No one could see the sun through the low winter cloud, but that did not deter a flurry of drumming, chanting and singing as dawn broke.

There will be less than eight hours of daylight in England on Saturday — but after that, the days get longer until the summer solstice in June.

The solstices are the only occasions when visitors can go right up to the stones at Stonehenge, and thousands are willing to rise before dawn to soak up the atmosphere.

The stone circle, whose giant pillars each took 1,000 people to move, was erected starting about 5,000 years ago by a sun-worshiping Neolithic culture. Its full purpose is still debated: Was it a temple, a solar calculator, a cemetery, or some combination of all three?

In a paper published in the journal Archaeology International, researchers from University College London and Aberystwyth University said the site on Salisbury Plain, about 128 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of London, may have had political as well as spiritual significance.

That follows from the recent discovery that one of Stonehenge’s stones — the unique stone lying flat at the center of the monument, dubbed the “altar stone” — originated in Scotland, hundreds of miles north of the site. Some of the other stones were brought from the Preseli Hills in southwest Wales, nearly 240 kilometers (150 miles) to the west,

Lead author Mike Parker Pearson from UCL’s Institute of Archaeology said the geographical diversity suggests Stonehenge may have served as a “monument of unification for the peoples of Britain, celebrating their eternal links with their ancestors and the cosmos.”

A person holds up a smart phone as they wait for sunrise during the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

Arthur Pendragon poses for a portrait as he takes part in the winter solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

A person's face is daubed with blue paint as they take part in the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

A person's face is daubed with blue paint as they take part in the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

People take part in the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

People tale part in the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

People take part in the winter solstice celebrations during sunrise at Glastonbury Tor in Somerset, England, Saturday Dec. 21, 2024. (James Manning/PA via AP)

People take part in the winter solstice celebrations during sunrise at Glastonbury Tor in Somerset, England, Saturday Dec. 21, 2024. (James Manning/PA via AP)