Costas Relishes His Role In Booth But Nbc Announcer Still Frustrated With Major League Baseball’s Format

Despite his anger over the changes in baseball, Bob Costas was looking forward to his first World Series broadcast.

It’s hard to believe, but Sunday’s game between Atlanta and Cleveland was the first World Series game with Costas behind the mike.

“One of the worst mistakes an announcer can make, and I’ve done it, is say, ‘This is a big game and I’ll do more.’ There’s a limit to how much you can do before you suffocate the broadcast,” he said before the game.

Just as viewers were getting used to ABC’s crew of Al Michaels, Tim McCarver and Jim Palmer, the Series switched to NBC’s crew of Costas, Bob Uecker and Joe Morgan for Game 2. Because of the collapse of The Baseball Network, NBC gets Games 2, 3 and 6 and ABC the rest.

Costas has made clear he has mixed feeling about this postseason.

“I think a little bit of the aura that surrounds the World Series is gone this year because of the season it’s been, because of the 144-game schedule,” he said.

Costas, one of the loudest voices among baseball purists, hates the switch to three divisions, hates wild-card teams, hates the extra round of playoffs.

“People will see in time the protracted postseason detracts from the World Series,” he said. “It will feel like the final round of a tournament rather than the World Series.”

Acting commissioner Bud Selig says the changes are a success, and points to interest in the wild-card races in the final week of the season.

Many fans, though, were confused by the format and the complex tiebreaking rules. The Cincinnati Reds clinched the NL Central and didn’t even realize it until a day later.

“It has what all great dramas have - clarity,” Costas said sarcastically. “It completely eliminates the feel of a real pennant race. It will begin to dawn on people when they realize you can’t have real seasons - Bobby Thomson, Bucky Dent, 1964, 1993 and all the other great pennant races can’t happen again.

“It’s not just flawed, it’s inane.”

Costas, 42, has been with NBC since 1980. He broadcast about 250 games for the network from 1982-89, partnered most of the time with Tony Kubek as the backup team on the Game of the Week. Vin Scully was the lead announcer and worked in the World Series booth.

For Costas, the best part of the season is the World Series matchup.

“It’s legitimized by the fact that it’s Cleveland vs. Atlanta, the best two teams in baseball,” he said. “Because of that it’s a legitimate season.”