Bob Costas responds to Mike Francesa: 'Does that person understand the nature of a national broadcast?'

Sports radio talking head Mike Francesa made some waves this week when he harshly criticized Bob Costas for the way he has been calling the American League Division Series between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians. 

During an appearance on Cleveland radio Tuesday morning (92.3 The Fan) to preview the deciding Game 5 of the series on Tuesday afternoon, Costas was asked about the criticism and offered a response to Francessa without actually naming him.

Via Awful Announcing: 

“I’m gonna give you an honest answer, I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to it because of the dynamics that we’ve been talking about. So I understand what it is. There was one comment — in line with what you’re talking about where, ‘You don’t have to say these things about the Yankees. Everybody’s a Yankee fan. Everybody knows this,’” Costas recalled with a chuckle. “Does that person understand the nature of a national broadcast? Yes, everybody from Sacramento to Bangor, Maine knows who Aaron Judge is this year, but what about other factors within it? “I think if you don’t set the stage and frame it a little bit, then the casual fan isn’t drawn in as much and they don’t understand the dynamics of the series.”

Francessa's criticism centered on Costas' tendency to turn everything into a story and a history lesson.

"Costas will not be quiet," Francesa fumed on his Podcast before adding that "everybody" is a Yankees fan and does not need a history lesson "every two seconds." 

Of course, not everybody is a Yankees fan so that was definitely a weird place to take the commentary. 

Costas has called the entire series and has definitely shown an affinity for the way the Guardians play the game, while also calling out the Yankees on more than one occasion for not running hard enough (Josh Donaldson) or for a bat flip after a home run (Oswaldo Cabrera). 

He definitely has a style and preference for how the game should be played, and it does appeal to a wide audience of baseball fans. 

That audience simply does not seem to include Mike Francesa. At least not in this particular series.