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Incredible Sights and Sounds From Guardians’ Walk-Off Feel Like a Movie

Progressive Field went up for grabs in amazing video.

Kyle Koster

David Fry's walk-off home run was a movie.
David Fry's walk-off home run was a movie. / ..

The New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians conspired to play an unbelievable Game 3 in the American League Championship Series on Thursday. The back-and-forth affair had a bit of everything with both sides hitting a pair of incredibly clutch home runs at the precise moment they'd yield maxium drama. On a night where so many players took a turn playing hero, Cleveland's David Fry went last, blasting a walkoff two-run homer in the 10th inning to cut the Yankees' series lead in half and give Guardians fans some realistic hope.

It was one of those games where as soon as it ended—even as a neutral observer—you couldn't wait to catch the highlights. The sort of sporting event where you text a casual fan and tell them they need to check out what happened. And the type of thing that yields almost magical footage from the scene.

Playoff baseball provides such rich storytelling and it digs deep inside to reach something truly pure. There's so much to say about a magnificent game where the stakes couldn't be higher and the action couldn't be more exciting, yet the sights and sounds are often more effective.

All of this to say this video, taken a few blocks from Progressive Field as Fry launched his bomb into the night and sent a city into euphoria, is one of the coolest things on the internet right now. The building of tension until the crack of the bat is heard. The cascading of sound from there. A fireworks display to hammer home the winning moment.

Perfection.

If I were running Major League Baseball I'd make this a commercial for the sport. Heck, it already feels like a commercial created for the sport in the way that it delivers a message without words.

Stuff like this is why the "baseball is dying" narrative and vague complaints about the sport not marketing its stars becomes insufferable. There's amazing, almost-impossible-to-ignore theater playing out for anyone who can stop complaining long enough to enjoy it. Year after year the sport seems to do a great job reminding everyone come October just what it has to offer.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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