Netflix’s “Opening Night” MLB coverage was a swing and a miss

On March 25, the first pitch of the 2026 MLB slate took place on Netflix. The streamer broke new ground by serving as the exclusive broadcaster for the season-opening matchup between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees.

The broadcast, which Netflix dubbed Opening Night, had tons of potential. With legends like Barry Bonds in the studio and stars like Aaron Judge on the field, Netflix had a chance to disrupt sports media in the same way it disrupted TV and movies. Instead, we got a universally derided product that was the streaming equivalent of a weak infield groundout. Let’s run through some of the things Netflix got wrong.

Strike one: MLB baseball is not a Jake Paul fight.

In 2024, Netflix scored a palpable hit with its coverage of Paul’s tilt against Mike Tyson. While the main event itself wasn’t too exciting, the overall product made sense. The undercard included fighters with ties to other Netflix properties, the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders promoted their Netflix docuseries with a performance, and cuts to Ralph Macchio and William Zabka reminded viewers that Netflix offers fictional fisticuffs (i.e. Cobra Kai) in addition to real-life boxing.

Those cameos promoted the idea of Netflix as a home for creators. That’s a talking point Co-CEO Ted Sarandos has repeatedly pushed, especially as his company competes more directly with YouTube.

Flash forward to Opening Night, and Netflix once again stuffed the broadcast full of celebrities. Comedian and Netflix star Bert Kreischer introduced the teams, football player Jameis Winston was a guest in the studio, and WWE star Jey Uso announced the first pitch — and that was all before the game even started!

It was just too much. YouTube’s NFL broadcast was a reminder that traditional sports fans have a low tolerance for creator cameos, and Netflix crossed the line. As baseball lovers waited for the season to finally start, we had no choice but to shout “get on with it!”

Strike two: From a production standpoint, the broadcast left a lot to be desired.

Production choices can make or break a sports event. Factors like image quality, graphics, and sound mixing are often the difference between a beloved broadcast and a dud.

Unfortunately, a high-quality production didn’t seem to be a top concern for Netflix. The picture looked hazy at times, and some of the digital ads clashed with player uniforms.

The design of the “scorebug” tells us everything we need to know about Netflix’s priorities. That graphic is supposed to tell us details like the score, count, and baserunners. Instead, it was hard to read — but there was plenty of room to jam the Netflix logo in there. It was a choice that perfectly encapsulates the self-aggrandizing attitude Netflix brought to Opening Night.

Strike three: It’s not clear to me that Netflix even likes baseball.

Look, I’ll admit it: I’m a baseball nut, so it’s hard for me to be unbiased here. From my point of view, however, Netflix clearly believed that the MLB itself is not interesting enough to hold viewers’ attention. There was a constant flow of interviews, overlong segments, and broadcaster tangents. When the first-ever ABS challenge in MLB history occurred, viewers missed it because Netflix was too busy hitting Giants manager Tony Vitello with softball questions.

If Netflix is going to bother with the MLB, it shouldn’t treat the league as a second-class product. The ratings from the recent World Baseball Classic showed that baseball viewership is healthier than it’s been in years, but Netflix nevertheless treated the sport like a boring, uninteresting slog.

Even if you do think baseball is boring, Netflix’s presentation style was still wrong on a fundamental level. Sarandos wants us to believe that viewers are more engaged on Netflix than they are on YouTube. He sees the rival platform as a place where people go when they want to aimlessly kill time.

If that’s the case, then why does Sarandos keep approving choices that position Netflix as a time-waster? With its dumbed-down scripts and its distraction-filled baseball broadcasts, the streamer encourages viewers to divide their attention. If it wants advertisers to believe that its subscribers are leaning in, maybe it should treat them that way.