Tigers dodge bullet with ALDS television announcer assignments

Emma Lingan

Arizona Diamondbacks v Atlanta Braves / Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves/GettyImages

The Detroit Tigers' run to the American League Division Series has been nothing short of magical. One downside of the club playing on baseball's biggest stage, however, is that fans can no longer watch their hometown team narrated by their hometown broadcasters.

As much as Tigers fans would love to listen to more beautiful calls from Jason Benetti on Bally Sports Detroit when the ALDS begins Saturday against the Cleveland Guardians, they will instead have to tune in to the national broadcast on TBS. It's not all bad, though – and frankly, it could've been much worse.

The broadcaster assignments for each ALDS series were released this week, and the Tigers decidedly got the better end of the deal. While the Detroit-Cleveland series will be called by Brian Anderson and Jeff Francoeur, the series between the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals will be called by Bob Costas and Ron Darling.

Tigers dodge bullet with ALDS television broadcaster assignments

Costas has become somewhat of a punchline in the baseball community after receiving widespread criticism for his call of the 2022 ALDS series between the Yankees and the Guardians. He was called out by fans and media members alike for providing unnecessary historical context and details, speaking in monotone fashion and, frankly, talking too much.

Yankees fans will be especially disappointed to hear that Costas is calling their series again this year, as he was widely criticized in 2022 by New York-based fans who felt he and his fellow announcers were biased against their team. Costas certainly didn't help his case by firing back at his critics, calling them out for their "idiocy" in an interview on Cleveland-based sports talk show "The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima."

This year, though, it's the Tigers who will be facing Cleveland in the ALDS, and they will do so to the tune of Anderson's play-by-play and Francoeur's color analysis. Tigers fans will certainly miss the comfort of their local broadcasts by Benetti and Andy Dirks; admittedly, though, it will be pretty special to have "The Natural" calling their games.

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Emma Lingan

Emma Lingan is an MLB Staff Writer for FanSided primarily covering the Pittsburgh Pirates. She has been covering baseball for more than a decade dating back to her time as a student at Wake Forest University, and she has won two gold medals as a member of the U.S. National Team delegation (2016 Pan-American Championships & 2017 World Baseball Classic). A native of Washington, D.C. and current resident of Nashville, Tenn., she is also entering her seventh season as a credentialed NHL media member and currently covers the NHL’s Nashville Predators for The Hockey News. When she's not watching hockey, baseball or football, she enjoys podcasting, reading, going to the gym, consuming large amounts of coffee and taking long walks with her dog, Minkah. You can follow her @Emma_lingan on Twitter and Instagram.