SI

Bob Costas and TBS Make Royals-Yankees a Painful, Infuriating Watch

The ALDS series has been marred by a terrible booth and production issues.

Jimmy Traina

Bob Costas has not put on a broadcasting clinic during the Royals-Yankees series.
Bob Costas has not put on a broadcasting clinic during the Royals-Yankees series. / Erik Williams-Imagn Images

1. When NBC was airing Thursday Night Football several years ago, the network wanted to use Mike Tirico for play-by-play. Roger Goodell and the NFL stepped in and said no. The league told NBC it needed to use Al Michaels because they wanted the No. 1 voice calling those games.

It would be nice if Rob Manfred cared about his postseason telecasts half as much as Goodell cared about Thursday Night Football, because TBS and Bob Costas are a complete mess when it comes to the Yankees-Royals ALDS.

Yes, whether you like his style or not, Costas is a sports media legend. Great interviewer. Great essayist. Many in the business love Costas and bow down to him, so no one will speak the truth and say this. But Bob Costas should not be doing play-by-play during the playoffs anymore.

We don’t need lectures during playoff games. We don’t need three straight hours of monotone calls. We don’t need a constant history lesson.

Let me be clear. The issues with the Yankees-Royals telecasts don’t fall on Costas alone. The overall production is a mess. For some nonsensical reason, TBS mutes the crowd noise during the games, taking away from the atmosphere and excitement generated in the ballpark.

There are bizarre camera angles. And an obsession with George Brett.

After showing Brett a million times during Game 2, TBS interviewed the Royals legend in Game 3. FOR A FULL HALF INNING. FROM THE STANDS.

When I took issue with ESPN for turning a Falcons-Eagles Monday Night Football game into the Jason Kelce Show, at least Kelce was analyzing some of the plays and was in the booth. Someone at TBS thought this is what viewers wanted last night.

Even Yankees radio analyst Suzyn Waldman had to chime in on TBS’s love affair with Brett, using an excellent Taylor Swift reference.

Anyway, back to Costas. In addition to having absolutely no juice on his calls, he has zero chemistry with Ron Darling (who is a very good analyst). At the end of Game 3 on Wednesday, Costas was trying to explain Giancarlo Stanton’s big night. Darling chimed in that Stanton also had a shocking stolen base. The two spoke over each other and then Costas ignored Darling’s note and just kept going. Awkward.

Speaking of awkward, there was also this from Costas.

But make no mistake, the lack of any excitement at all on the calls are the biggest problem. Just listen to this.

And this.

And this.

It’s funny. The play-by-play voices for the other three LDS games—Brian Anderson, Joe Davis and Adam Amin—are screaming and yelling (and in the case of Davis and Anderson, even shrieking) on all the big plays. Costas calls the game like it’s the middle of June.

The bit of good news I can provide for you is that Anderson gets the play-by-play assignment for the ALCS on TBS.

Also, who did this?

2. Here’s a palate cleanser after all those Costas clips. Mets radio voice, Howie Rose, had another legendary call during New York’s Game 4 series-clinching win against the Phillies thanks to a grand slam from Francisco Lindor.

Amin’s call on the TV side was excellent, too.

3. A brand-new episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina dropped this morning and it features an outstanding conversation with ESPN’s Paul Finebaum.

Finebaum talks about what it’s like to cover SEC football and deal with those fans, what goes into doing a daily four-hour radio show solo, his interviewing philosophy and his all-time favorite job.

Finebaum also discusses how the expanded playoff affects college football’s regular season, why he isn’t a regular on College GameDay, how he once got Lane Kiffin fired, his feud with wrestling legend Ric Flair, why college football needs to start its season earlier, whether coaches cover the point spread for boosters, the craziest moment of his career and much more.

Following Finebaum, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, Sal explains what it’s like when huge breaking news happens while being on air, the problem with MLB postseason broadcasters, the Jets firing Robert Saleh and more.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

4. Here’s how one Phillies fan reacted to her team getting eliminated by the Mets on Wednesday.

5. I’m not sure the middle of a dangerous and life-threatening hurricane is the time for jokes, but this meteorologist somehow made the connection between Hurricane Milton and the Patriots-Falcons 28–3 Super Bowl.

6. If you’re a wrestling fan, you have to suspend disbelief even though we all know it’s scripted. But since we all know it’s scripted, I’d love to see the WWE post more outtakes/bloopers like this. Great stuff here.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Since I took Costas to task at the top of this column, in the interest of fairness, let’s remember one of his best moments: Taking on Vince McMahon in a heated and riveting interview.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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