NEW YORK, November 5, 2009 (AFP) - Extending the most successful championship legacy in American sport, the New York Yankees captured their 27th World Series title Wednesday, a fantasy finish for a season that started like a nightmare.

The Yankees defeated defending champion Philadelphia 7-3 to capture Major League Baseball's best-of-seven final four games to two and claimed their first crown since 2000, an eternity of a wait for the sport's highest-paid team.

"It has been a long time," said Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankees manager general partner. "This team has fought all year long. They never give up. They deserve this."

Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera won their fifth Series titles with the Yankees, who took four crowns from 1996-2000.

Alex Rodriguez, a playoff flop for 15 years, became a champion in his Series debut, shrugging off a doping controversy and extra attention as the boyfriend of actress Kate Hudson to make his title dream a reality.

"He has exorcised a lot of demons," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. "There's no reason to take any, 'He can't do this. He can't do that.' He has done it all now."

"A-Rod" admitted in February to using steroids while playing for Texas from 2001 through 2003, before baseball began a drug test program. Rodriguez said he had felt extra pressure to perform well and apologized to fans and teammates.

"It has been a special year. I know it started rocky," Rodriguez said. "A lot of people ran the other way. My teammates and coaches and organization stood right next to me. And now we stand together as world champions.

"I said that day that this is going to turn out to be maybe one of the most special years of our lives and it sure has."

Training camp began with a media frenzy, "A-Roid" and "A-Fraud" among the choice remarks. US President Barack Obama talked about the tarnishing of an era. Shame and humiliation was total.

"I just knew then when I had the 25 guys there standing next to me, the organization and my general manager, they meant the world to me," Rodriguez said.

For him, it then became about baseball.

Rodriguez, who inked a record 10-year deal with the Yankees in 2007 worth 275 million dollars, hit .286 with 30 home runs and 100 runs batted in despite missing the first month of the season with a hip injury.

In the playoffs, Rodriguez belted six home runs, drove in 18 runs and led the Yankees with a .355 batting average.

"He's one of the major reasons we are here," Yankees captain Derek Jeter said.

The Yankees swept Minnesota to reach the American League finals for the first time since 2004, when they became the only club in history to squander a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven series and fell to arch-rival Boston.

New York ousted the Los Angeles Angels in six games to book a 1950 World Series rematch against the Phillies, who proved no match for the Bronx Bombers.

"When you go into spring training, your goal is to win the World Series," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "There's a lot of pride in that locker room and guys have worked very hard to get to this point."

No one represents that more than Rivera, who boosted his record Series saves total to 11 and playoff saves mark to 39. He obtained the crucial last outs in each Yankee victory, including the World Series clincher for a fourth time.

"As you look at the success the Yankees have had over this long stretch, Mo has been as big a part of that as anyone," Girardi said.