Bob Costas didn’t finish MLB play-by-play career the way he wanted to

Justin Verlander’s retirement served as a reminder for Bob Costas that he wasn’t satisfied with the end of his own MLB play-by-play career.

Costas recently joined Molly Knight and Joe Posnanski on The Joy of Baseball podcast. During the podcast, Costas reiterated how the baseball portion of his Hall of Fame broadcasting career remains closest to his heart. And while Costas is a widely celebrated baseball announcer and historian, he does wish the end of his play-by-play career went out on a higher note.

“Justin Verlander has had a Hall of Fame career. Last few years doesn’t match that, but he got the grace note,” Costas pointed out to Knight and Posnanski on the heels of Verlander pitching his final game.

Verlander was not a front-of-the-rotation pitcher during the last three seasons of his MLB career. But his final outing last weekend was decent enough, especially since he hadn’t made a start since March. It allowed Verlander to go out to a standing ovation.

“I thought about that with me,” Costas continued. “I don’t have much reason to complain. I’ve had such a blessed career and life. But that is one I wish I could go back, and maybe in retrospect I shouldn’t have done it at all. Maybe I should have realized I was losing something on my fastball. But in fact, in 2022, which was the first of the three years I did with Turner, a lot of the broadcasts with Jim Kaat and with Tom Verducci were very, very well received.”

Costas said he went back and watched broadcasts from the end of his career and compared them to games he called in the ‘80s and ‘90s, seeking to find out, “Why wasn’t I able to do this as well as I once did and end on the note that I wanted to end on?”

2022 was the first time Costas called a full MLB playoff series in nearly a quarter-century. He continued to call the Division Series for TBS in 2023 and 2024. And while there was much anticipation to hear Costas call a full playoff series again, his style drew plenty of criticism.

Costas has been very candid about those last few playoff assignments not being up to his standards. But those are some pretty high standards. Yes, Costas was not as sharp as he was 25 years earlier, but some of the criticism he faced probably snowballed to the point where it was excessive.

Verlander got a grace note not because his last start was dominant, but because everyone knew it was the last start of his career. Fans are more willing to give grace when they know it’s the last time they’ll watch or hear a performer. And if Costas announced 2024 was his final season calling MLB games before he retired, he probably would have been given more grace. Costas still may not have been satisfied with his own work, but his critics probably wouldn’t have been as critical if they’d known it was the last time they’d heard a Hall of Fame announcer call a playoff baseball game.