The soundtrack to a Yankees playoff victory was different this year, but still music to Yankees fans’ ears on Thursday night as Dave Sims narrated the final out of Game 3 with the Bronx Bombers advancing to face the Blue Jays in the American League Division Series.
The Yankees toppled the Red Sox in the three-game wild-card series with a 4-0 win in the final game — anchored by a four-run fourth inning and Cam Schlittler’s eight-inning masterpiece — to set up the moment for Sims to call the final out as Nathaniel Lowe popped out to third baseman Ryan McMahon.
“The glee is going to be immeasurable,” Sims started off saying on the broadcast. “The 0-1, swing and a pop down the left field line. Looking for McMahon, he’s got room. He’s there, and the Yankees have won it!
“They win this wild-card round and eliminate the Boston Red Sox!”
He later added: “What a good one and Cam Schlittler, boy, he has written his name in concrete in Yankee history.”
The series was a first for the organization and Yankee fans, with someone other than John Sterling calling a playoff radio broadcast for the first time since the 1981 World Series.
Sims is in his first year calling Yankee games after Sterling retired in April 2024, though he did return to the booth to call games late in the season and through the entire postseason run to the World Series.
The series has been a first for Sims, too, as he’s experiencing calling this year’s playoff run as the main play-by-play broadcaster for the first time in his career, which he described to Newsday as “a lot more exciting.”
“It’s different,” he told the outlet. “Here’s the other difference: It’s Boston and the Yankees. I mean, we’re talking about high-end. One of the best rivalries in North American professional sports.
“So as thrilled as I was to be in the playoffs with the Mariners after that freaking drought, this is next level.”