TBS' broadcast of Royals-Yankees was very focused on George Brett. Screen grab: TBS
MLBTNT SportsBy Ben Axelrod on

In case you didn’t hear, George Brett was at the American League Divisional Series matchup between the Kansas Royals and New York Yankees on Monday night.

Of course, if you watched the game on TBS, you’re already well aware.

While there was plenty on the line in the Game 2 showdown, with the Royals looking to prevent the Yankees from taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series, TBS’ broadcast seemed oddly focused on the presence of Brett. The first mention of the living Royals legend came in the top of the fourth inning, as Bob Costas made note of Brett celebrating Salvador Perez’s solo home run to tie the game at 1-1.

“George Brett and his wife Leslie, the greatest player in Royals history, now part of their front office, cheering his team on,” Costas stated during a replay of the Hall of Fame third baseman’s celebration.

Two pitches later, the broadcast refocused on Brett, who was watching the game from a suite at Yankee Stadium.

“You know, you look at George Brett, the calendar, the bio doesn’t lie, he’s in his 70s now,” Costas said. “But he still has the enthusiasm of a rookie. He just loves to be around the game. He’s a ballplayer. He’ll be a ballplayer until the day he leaves this mortal coil. Loves to hang around batting practice, he’s one of the guys.”

“He looks like he has the same energy as I remember him facing him the 90s,” analyst Ron Darling added.

“And as great as he was in the regular season — more than a .300 lifetime batting average, batting titles in three different decades, 70s, 80s and 90s,” Costas continued before being cutoff by an Yuli Gurriel single.

Costas didn’t get to immediately finish his point, which was presumably regarding Brett’s stellar posteason play. But lest you feared the TBS broadcast was going to forget about Brett, that clearly wasn’t the case, as an inning later, Costas speculated about the possibility of current Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. winning an MVP in the near future.

“The only MVP in Royals history is George Brett in 1980 when he hit .390 and was over .400 in September,” Costas stated as the broadcast refocused on the 71-year-old in his suite. “There he is once again. Runner up in American League MVP voting twice in addition to the year he won it.”

Costas then circled back to the conversation that had been cutoff an inning earlier.

“And when you talk about great postseason performers, George Brett in the postseason — and he was in many of them and when he played it was only the LCS and the World Series if you made it that far — .337 with 10 home runs in October,” he said.

As Costas and Darling set up the bottom of the seventh inning, the TBS broadcast once again went back to Brett, as Costas waxed poetic about the 1976 ALCS matchup between the Royals and Yankees. And just for good measure, the network’s postgame show brought up the 13-time All-Star — albeit in a more passing manner than Costas and Darling did throughout the game.

TBS’ Brett-centric broadcast didn’t go unnoticed by viewers, many of whom took to social media to say some variation of “enough already.” It’s also worth noting that Brett was brought up so many times that he managed to trend on social media — a rarity considering that a Monday Night Football matchup involving the Kansas City Chiefs was also going on at the same time.

While it would have been perfectly fine to mention Brett once — frankly, it would have been strange not to considering his presence at the stadium — Costas and his crew clearly did so one (or two or three) times too many. And it’s more than understandable that fans of the teams playing (especially the Yankees) would rather be focused on the game at hand than re-live the 1970s.

Conversely, Costas’ extensive knowledge history is a part of his charm. But considering the vast criticism Monday night’s Brett-centric broadcast received, it will be interesting to see whether he reverses course or leans into it during Game 3 on Wednesday.

[TBS]

About Ben Axelrod

Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.

View all posts by Ben Axelrod