Bob Costas Yankees calls: Worst moments from TBS broadcaster during ALDS series vs. Royals

Bryan Murphy

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Bob Costas Yankees calls: Worst moments from TBS broadcaster during ALDS series vs. Royals image

Bob Costas is putting together quite the highlight reel this October — just the wrong kind.

The TBS broadcaster is delivering all of the action from the Yankees vs. Royals ALDS series. New York took the first game in Kansas City on Wednesday night, going up 2-1 in the series and giving the Bronx Bombers a chance to punch their ticket to the ALCS.

Costas isn't as frequent a member of the broadcast both in 2024. The legendary broadcaster continues to call baseball games on TBS and MLB Network, but he is getting more hate than praise this October. 

Viewers have been pointing out a number of poor calls by the play-by-play veteran, calling out his perceived bias towards the Yankees and his lack of excitement during key moments. 

Here are the worst calls from Costas so far in the Yankees-Royals ALDS. 

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Worst Bob Costas Yankees vs. Royals calls 

Costas wasn't great on the mic right from the jump. The criticism started in Game 1, when the biggest complaint of the 72-year-old's calls was a lack of energy.

The perfect example was the first run of the series, when Tommy Pham knocked in a run on a sacrifice fly. It's a good thing the cameras were on, because Costas failed to immediately say whether or not Yuli Gurriel was safe at home plate.  

He did the same thing later in the game, but this time with plenty of exuberance behind the call. When Alex Verdugo knocked in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, once again, Costas failed to clearly say one way or another if the runner scored at the play at the plate.   

Game 3 is when Costas caught flak from fans for a potential Yankees bias. Costas had what was just a flat-out weird call of a Stanton double play, showing sympathy for the Yankees designated hitter for grounding into two outs by saying "it's not his fault."

The line resulted in fans calling out a perceived bias towards the New York squad. Costas is from New York, as he was raised in Commack, N.Y., adding fuel to the fire as the Yankees took a 3-2 win in the game and a 2-1 lead in the series.

It didn't get much better the next night. Costas screwed up a play later in the contest. When Royals infielder Vinnie Pasquantino lined the ball up the middle of the field, the play-by-play announcer incorrectly stated that it was a base hit, moments before it was caught by Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe. 

It's safe to say that Costas appears to be lacking his fastball on the mic.

Bryan Murphy

Bryan Murphy Photo

Bryan Murphy joined The Sporting News in 2022 as the NHL/Canada content producer. Previously he worked for NBC Sports on their national news desk reporting on breaking news for the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL, in addition to covering the 2020 and 2022 Olympic Games. A graduate of Quinnipiac University, he spent time in college as a beat reporter covering the men’s ice hockey team.