Anthony Rieber: Netflix takes big swing into baseball but it goes foul
New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston, working for Netflix, interviews the Yankees' Aaron Judge before a game against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, in San Francisco. Credit: Getty Images
At a little past 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Netflix pregame show host Elle Duncan noted that baseball in the distant past was a game “broadcast on living room radios, and presently we are starting Opening Night on the biggest global streaming network in the world with a drone shot. Times they are a-changin’ and we absolutely love it here.”
Do we?
How many Yankees and Giants fans loved that their teams were chosen for Netflix’s first MLB game as a stand-alone opener to the 2026 season?
How many fans who didn’t have a Netflix subscription loved that they had to pay for one to watch?
How many fans instead listened to Dave Sims and Suzyn Waldman call the Yankees’ 7-0 victory on WFAN on their “living room radios,” or in any other room?
How many fans skipped the game altogether and decided to pick up the season with Friday’s Game 2 on YES?
These are the existential questions that sports fans have been grappling with in recent years as marquee games in every sport gravitate to streaming.
Spoiler alert: It’s not being done for the good of the fans. It’s being done so the leagues can make more money.
But you knew that already. And you are powerless to stop it.
Sorry.
After a taped introduction featuring an actor we will not name who has an upcoming show on Netflix that we will not name, Duncan opened the pregame with a panel of Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols and former Yankee Anthony Rizzo.
“We hit an absolute home run with this set!” said Duncan, who came to Netflix from ESPN. “Literally. That’s like 1,700 between them.”
Then Duncan introduced Rizzo as “the man that’s got Rizz — it’s actually in his name!”
Cringeworthy.
Thankfully Duncan didn’t say “6-7” in an attempt to appeal to the pre-teen audience.
CC Sabathia, who would later call the action in the broadcast booth, joined the panel in the second segment after a star we will not name who has an upcoming movie on Netflix we will not name introduced a taped piece about the debut of the automated ball-strike challenge system (ABS).
Then a comedian who has a special coming up on Netflix did a bit from a kayak in McCovey Cove. Can’t name him because until Wednesday we had never heard of him. Apparently yelling from a kayak is funny.
Then the star who has a different show on Netflix was shown as part of the early-arriving crowd at Oracle Park.
You get the idea.
Netflix obviously wants to get its money’s worth for paying a reported $50 million over three years for the rights to three events a year: the stand-alone season opener; the Home Run Derby; and a “special event” game (this year it’s the “Field of Dreams” game from Iowa between the Phillies and Twins on Aug. 13).
There was also an hour-long pregame show on YES Network if you wanted to toggle back and forth. But the beauty of streaming platforms might just be that they know how big a hassle it is to switch in and out to watch something on a different platform.
So you stay.
The actual game was called by Matt Vasgersian, a familiar, professional baseball voice who was scheduled to fly cross country to be at Citi Field on Thursday afternoon to call the Mets-Pirates opener on NBC, plus Sabathia and Hunter Pence.
It was the Hall of Famer Sabathia’s first game in the booth, and he seemed quite comfortable. It makes you think he could call more than one game a season if he wanted to.
The 5:25 p.m. local time start (not 5:05 as advertised) led to shadows between home plate and the mound, and it also led to an unfortunate cloudy viewing experience from the centerfield camera during the early innings.
It looked like classic San Francisco fog! But every other camera angle was fog-free.
And, oh, that wacky-looking score bug in the lower right corner of the screen. Nothing during the broadcast got more notice on social media. Next time Netflix should issue magnifying glasses so you can read what’s on the darn thing.
Overall, the broadcast of the one-sided game was fine, kind of ESPN-ish, with all the “innovations” that no one asked for (a countdown clock during the pregame show, home plate umpire cam, in-game interview with a mic’d up Jazz Chisholm Jr., in-game interviews with the managers).
The first ABS challenge in MLB history drew a huge cheer from the crowd. Jose Caballero of the Yankees challenged a strike call. The call stood.
Netflix missed it because it happened during an in-game interview with Giants manager Tony Vitello.
In addition to its first baseball game, Netflix veered into softball territory with the questions the announcers asked commissioner Rob Manfred during his in-game interview.
When was his first opening day? When did he fall in love with baseball? How cool is the ABS? It was a short half-inning, so the “what’s your favorite color” question will have to wait.
Maybe with the sport facing a lockout after the season, that could have been a wee topic?
Even after the announcers played patty-cake with him, Manfred couldn’t get out of the booth fast enough, missing Sabathia’s handshake attempt. Hey, the check cleared, I’m outta here!
The less said about the Jameis Winston appearances the better.
So still some bugs to work out. It will be interesting to see how Netflix handles its second regular-season game on Aug. 13.
Start the countdown clock.
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
