Dave Sims follows John Sterling in calling his first Yankees postseason series for WFAN

A little after 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Suzyn Waldman introduced Dave Sims as “the voice of the New York Yankees” on the WFAN broadcast of Game 1 of the Wild Card Series.

“Thank you, Suzyn,” said Sims, who is in his first season as the Yankees radio play-by-play announcer. “It is a privilege and a pleasure.”

It was the first time an announcer other than John Sterling did radio play-by-play for a Yankees postseason game since Bill White, Frank Messer, Phil Rizzuto and Fran Healy rotated to call the 1981 World Series on WABC.

Sterling was the Yankees’ radio play-by-play man from 1989 until his abrupt retirement last April. But – even after a special retirement ceremony at Yankee Stadium -- Sterling returned late in the regular season and called the entire 2024 Yankees postseason, all the way to the World Series.

After the final out of the Dodgers’ five-game series triumph, Sterling was obviously not able to say, “Theeeeeeeee Yankees win!”

What he did say, in a lower tone than normal: “Ballgame over. World Series over. Dodgers win. Los Angeles is the new champion and they are going nuts on the field. I don’t blame them.”

A new champion, and then a new era in the Yankees booth when Sims joined Waldman this season.

That’s baseball, Suzyn (which nobody has said on the air this year).

“It’s not easy to walk in here,” Waldman, who is in her 21st season in the Yankees radio booth, told Newsday before Game 1. “This place – everybody knows each other, has been together for years and years and years. It’s not easy to come in and do what Dave has done. I think we’ve had a lot of fun. I think the people have enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to this postseason.”

Sims, asked about replacing Sterling, said: “I don’t know why I get asked that question all the time. Anybody who’s replaced anybody, they don’t come in here looking to imitate what the previous guy did. That was the farthest thing from my mind.”

Sims is in his 23rd season as a baseball broadcaster. He spent the previous 18 years announcing mostly TV and some radio for the Seattle Mariners. During his tenure, the Mariners made the playoffs once, in 2022, and that was their first trip to the postseason since 2001. Sims was not the main radio play-by-play man, though he did call some playoff innings in a rotation.

“It’s a lot more exciting [to be the main play-by-play person],” Sims said. “It’s different. 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.”

Sterling and Waldman had next-level chemistry, honed during two decades together in the booth, and are close friends. Sterling had his signature calls, and while their broadcast style was not for everyone’s taste, he and Waldman were an institution on the radio dial.

Sims and Waldman couldn’t possibly expect to instantly have that same chemistry in their first season together. But, Sims said, “We have a lot of laughs, and age-wise we’re compatible, so we get each other's references. She’s obviously way ahead of me in Broadway [references], but in terms of pop culture, contemporary music, old school baseball, we’re on the same page.”

Waldman was not in the booth on Wednesday night for Game 2 as she was observing Yom Kippur. Emmanuel Berbari, the Yankees radio postgame host who grew up in Greenlawn, filled in.

Sims, a former New York Daily News reporter, has a tremendous amount of enthusiasm when he’s calling a game. He sounds like he’s having fun.

“Oh, heck yeah,” he said. “I love it. And for me, being home, and it’s the Yankees and they’re playing well . . . oh, man, it can’t be better than that.”