Max Scherzer sits with Bob Costas when Back on the Record with Bob Costas is on HBO Friday, April 1. Scherzer pitches for the Mets, and is an MLBPA player representative. 

Scherzer makes his first start of the season April 8, against the Nationals. Apple TV Plus has the game as part of its Friday Night Baseball package. Scherzer pitched for the Nationals for 6 ½ seasons. He’s won three Cy Young Awards. 

Billy Crystal will also be on Back on the Record April 1. He’s on Broadway with the show Mr. Saturday Night. 

The in-studio roundtable on the show that night will feature NBA standout J.J. Redick, former Miami Marlins president David Samson, Washington Post columnist Candace Bucker and Bomani Jones, star of Game Theory with Bomani Jones, also on HBO. 

Back on  the Record with Bob Costas is executive produced by Jonathan Crystal, Ross Greenburg, Howard Bryant and Bruce Cornblatt. ■

Back on the Record with Bob Costas premieres on HBO this year. There will be four episodes a year, the first turning up later this spring. They will feature interviews with “the biggest names in sports, entertainment and popular culture,” said HBO, and Costas tackling topical sports issues. 

"Bob has long been one of the most talented and versatile broadcasters in the world of sports and entertainment, and we are thrilled for his return to HBO,” said Nina Rosenstein, executive VP of programming, HBO.    

Costas hosted On The Record with Bob Costas from 2001 to 2004 and Costas Now from 2005 to 2009. 

“HBO is synonymous with the highest quality of television programming,” said Costas. “And their sports programming has always been both innovative and thoughtful. For those reasons and more, I am very pleased to again be part of HBO.”

Costas has hosted 11 Olympic Games, as well as Super Bowls and U.S. Open Golf championships, and has done play by play on numerous World Series and NBA Finals. 

Costas will remain with MLB Network, which he joined in 2009.

Back on the Record with Bob Costas is executive produced by Jonathan Crystal, Ross Greenburg and Howard Bryant.

Veteran sportscaster Mike Tirico will host NBC’s coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympics games, replacing Bob Costas who will step down after hosting NBC’s Olympics coverage since 1992.

Tirico, who joined the NBC Sports Group in July 2016 after a long career at ESPN, will step into the primetime chair Feb. 8, 2018 when NBC begins its coverage of the Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Both Costas and Tirico appeared on NBC’s Today show Thursday morning to make the announcement. Costas has served as NBC’s primetime host for 11 consecutive Olympics telecasts.

“For a quarter-century, Bob expertly piloted NBC’s primetime coverage of the Olympics,” NBC broadcasting and sports chairman Mark Lazarus said in a statement. “It is with a tremendous amount of pride that I can simultaneously express our appreciation for Bob’s stellar, record-setting run, while also feeling very lucky that we have someone as talented as Mike to take over as our new primetime host.”