Bob Costas had a rough playoff outing.
Costas joined Bill Maher on the comedian’s “Club Random” podcast and admitted that he didn’t have a great performance in the ALDS, where his play-by-play of the Yankees series was widely panned.
“This past October I did the Yankees and the Guardians in the Division Series and I felt like I was off my game,” Costas said of the TBS broadcast, as covered by Sports Illustrated.
“Sort of like a pitcher who still has good stuff, but somehow, as they say, he didn’t have command, that night. I could feel it. In the first five or six innings of the first game, it’s the same philosophy, same approach, but I wasn’t nailing it.
“It didn’t have the same flow and rhythm to it. There were a few awkward moments. I hadn’t worked that much with Ron Darling, only two or three games. Very smart guy. Guy I like.”
Mike Francesa said that Costas would “not shut up,” while The Post’s Andrew Marchand wrote that his broadcasting was “tedious” but ended on a high note.
“Now, I don’t place much stock in what two or three people say on Twitter, because on Twitter, there’s no misdemeanors. There’s only felonies,” Costas said. “But when I knew myself that it just wasn’t what I’ve generally been able to do — and I wasn’t comparing myself to 1995 when I’m doing the World Series, I was comparing myself to August and September of last season when things were as they usually were.
“And somehow, I might have gotten a little better as the five games went along, but it wasn’t what I intended to do. Now, why do I care about that?”
Costas said it would be his decision as to whether he returns to the broadcasts on TBS.
“I’m back if I wanna be back to do it. I’m only doing it as much as what I want to do. I did a dozen Olympics. It was time to leave that,” Costas said. “Most of what I’ve done is in the past. But I only want to do a handful of things and one of the things I want to do is a little bit of baseball. Why?
“Because I’ve always liked it and because it’s gratifying to me when people say the sort of things you’ve said. ‘You do it differently,’ and I appreciate that. I don’t need a parade. I just like that. So I felt like I dropped the ball on that, and it made me feel bad about it for that reason.”
The Yankees won the series in five games before getting swept by the Astros in the ALCS.