For the 19th time in franchise history, the New York Yankees will advance to the American League Championship Series (ALCS). All series long, Bob Costas and Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) covered the event, and drew some criticism in their coverage. For the entirety of last week, my X (formerly known as Twitter) timeline has been blowing up about Costas’ “subpar” commentating job. While Costas is a legend in the broadcasting industry (even calling the Olympics multiple times), this event brings up an ages-old discussion I’ve had at the dinner table: why don’t the local announcers get to keep calling during the playoffs? After all, these broadcasters sit for nearly all 162 games of a team’s season, good or bad, report the inside scoop of the clubhouses and even churn out additional content surrounding the team. Wouldn’t having the most knowledgeable individuals call the games make the most sense? Not to mention the bond that exists for the home fans, listening to the same three or four analysts call your team all summer long.
While I may be nitpicking, one of the most frustrating things as a sports fan is being subjected to subpar commentating during the biggest games of the year. While I don’t particularly have any gripes about the job that Costas did, it could have been better. It’s frustrating when your team’s season is on the line, and somehow Mark Twain and Kevin Bacon come up instead of the on-field talent. There is a time and a place for the pair, and a two-run ball game, which also happens to be an elimination game, couldn’t be further from the place. Not to mention, the energy for a game of this magnitude was nonexistent, which detracted from the excitement of October baseball. Numerous fans cited that they “muted their TVs” for all nine innings.
So, the question becomes, why does any of this matter? After all, Costas has no bearing on the outcome of this contest, and it shouldn’t matter. Yet, for the fans, it does. Just listen to the Mets radio announcer, Howie Rose’s, call of Francisco Lindor’s epic sixth inning three-run blast that proved to be the decider in their 4-1 game five victory over the Phillies. Despite not being a Mets fan, it’s hard not to get goosebumps listening to Rose’s passion about the biggest swing of New York’s season. While there weren’t moments quite this massive in the Kansas City series, there were still ample opportunities for Costas and the rest of the crew to engage with the viewers at home, and they failed to do so.
A distinction needs to be made in this article: this is in no way meant to disrespect Costas. The announcer has a long, successful career calling games, and this is an issue that transcends him. After all, some national commentators are good, and some are not. However, no matter who is calling the game, the national commentators cannot match the excitement of October baseball quite like the local broadcasters can, and that is an issue. The necessity of adapting to the times has never been greater to grow the game of baseball in the growing, competitive realm of professional sports. Television studios need to outsource who they have calling games and have more people like Rose calling October baseball.
Some would ask, how would this work? Well, that is the fun of the entire situation. The MLB has several unique solutions and can implement one of a few different choices.
The first choice is obvious: have two national broadcasting crews call the game on different networks. This would be, for example, if the Yankees crew went on ESPN while the Royals’ local media went over FOX. For the fans, this is the best option, as, based on team preference, you have the option most suited for you to enjoy the game. However, it is difficult to see networks bidding over which team commentators they have calling the game, although there is a way that this issue could be solved. If, for example, FOX were to do the game, you could put one team on FS1 and the other on FOX Sports or some other stream. Television studios would not lose any ad revenue from this, as the streams would be nearly identical, ads alike, minus the voice coming through your television. In fact, ad revenue might increase as fans would be more engaged in what they are watching, increasing the actual viewership of the game.
However, another solution exists and would be the toughest to implement but could set baseball apart from all other leagues: one joint broadcast. What would this look like? Well, it’s tough to say, considering only one person will be calling the game play-by-play, so, in fairness, whoever does this could rotate between the two sides. Yet, both team’s experts could provide knowledgeable color commentary throughout the contest. No other American sports league has done this option for the playoffs before, and it could be something special. Imagine a Subway Series World Series with David Cone and Ron Darling speaking knowledgeably and passionately about their teams in this forum. This implicit bias would be prime television and would make fans of both fanbases feel included in the action and not want the game to end. Logistically, money is the only thing stopping this, although that argument is not the soundest. For this to happen, someone would have to pay the local broadcasters to call the games, yet you have the potential for higher ratings, which would offset this extra cost.
Getting the local broadcasters in the booth for game 163 and beyond would be monumental. The engagement this would create between the fans and the league would be massive and could be something that other sports leagues would emulate. After all, if MLB thinks it’s a great idea to gatekeep games from the general public on Amazon or Apple TV, what is the downside of trying out something new? One thing is for sure: the status quo is not working. More often than not, passionate fans are left with a below-average viewing experience. This is a fixable issue, and it is about time that MLB decided to do something about it.