I was in a bind yesterday. The game had a 3:08 Pacific time start, and my basketball practice went from 3:30-5:30. So I could track the score through practice (and be a bad coach) then race home afterwards (and be a bad driver) to catch the end. Or I could turn off my phone, focus on practice, drive home like a normal person, and then watch the recording in my deprivation tank.

I chose option two, but I figured I could still listen to the beginning of the game on the drive over to practice. Kind of a temporary compromise. Soon after Dave Sims* described Ben Rice’s blistering line drive into the right field seats, I turned off the car, turned off my phone, and headed to the gym with a smile on my face and a 2-0 Yankee lead in my pocket. Things were going to be just fine.

*A quick note about Dave Sims. A commenter mentioned something here earlier this week that I have to second. I often find myself driving home after school or practice during the early innings of the Yankee game, so I’ve listened to a lot of games this season on Sirius XM. Dave Sims has been an absolute joy, and it’s made me realize that I only put up with John Sterling because he came with Suzyn Waldman. The pairing of Sims and Waldman has been perfect, and it seems like they’ve been working together for years, not months. If you haven’t had the chance to listen to them, I highly recommend it.

But when I got back to my car after practice, I made a rookie mistake, probably because of my rising nerves. I punched the ignition button and the audio screen came to life, spoiling all my plans: Yankees 4, Red Sox 3, Bottom of the 8th. At least it was good news, so I couldn’t really be disappointed either with the unraveling of my plans or with Trent Grisham’s strikeout to leave the bases loaded. I’d only have to wait three outs instead of three hours to learn the Yankees’ fate.

It’s just a twenty-minute drive home, but I wonder if my fellow commuters knew what was going on inside my car. I was passing a park filled with hundreds of youth volleyball players as David Bednar struck out Wilyer Abreu, and a few blocks later I was screaming at the top of my lungs while sitting at a traffic light as he caught Jaren Duran looking on a 3-2 count. All of you probably threw up in your mouths while Ceddanne Rafaela’s ball was arcing towards the right field stands, but Dave Sims gave a measured description that never had me worried* and I shouted with joy just a few blocks from home. I looked into a few car windows around me, wondering if by some chance, three thousand miles away from the Bronx, there was someone else celebrating the victory, but alas I was alone.

*Have you ever had moments of stress about something that didn’t happen? When I finally got home and saw this play during the highlights, my stomach dropped even though I knew Judge was going to catch the ball. I can’t imagine the swing of emotions I’d have had watching live — the fear that the game was tied followed so closely by elation that it was over. Kind of the like the last swing of the 2000 World Series.

There was one mystery that I needed to be explained. During the ninth inning Sims had mentioned that Jazz Chisholm, Jr., (who had given an Ichiro-style postgame interview* on Tuesday night) had scored from first base on a single from Austin Wells. I tried to imagine a scenario in which this could happen. When I finally saw the play, I couldn’t help but think how different this Yankee team is. Jazz was on the move on a 3-2 count, so when Wells smashed a line drive down the right field line, he had already rounded second before the ball touched the grass. He never broke speed, rounding third in a blur before diving head first and sliding his left hand across the plate just a breath ahead of the tag.

*It’s hard to remember what a novelty Ichiro was when he first arrived. The second-best player in baseball right now is from Japan, along with more than a dozen others sprinkled around baseball, but in 2001 there was only Ichiro, and as big as he was in Seattle, he was far bigger in his homeland. There were rumors that a Japanese publication was offering $2 million for a nude photo of the superstar, so for a time Ichiro was conducting locker room interviews with his back to the assembled media as he changed to avoid any unwanted photographs. It was a crazy time.

As I watched him sprinting from first third, it occurred to me that rarely have the Yankees enjoyed a player as fast as Jazz. One measure of a team’s overall baserunning ability is a stat called “Extra Bases,” or how often a player takes an extra base by scoring from second on a single or from first on a double. The 2025 Yankees are tied for last in this category, but here was Jazz taking two extra bases in the bottom of eighth inning to keep his team alive. It was a beautiful thing.

The second best thing that happened for me on Wednesday night was that the Dodgers ended their series, allowing the network to push tonight’s Yankee game to a more reasonable (for me) 5:00pm Pacific start. I won’t get to watch the first couple innings live, but that’s not the end of the world.

I feel really good about Cam Schlittler, so I feel great about the game.

Let’s go, Yankees!