NEW YORK — The New York Yankees will open the 2026 season in primetime on one of the biggest platforms in the world. And the man who has called their games for three decades will be watching from the sidelines.
Netflix goes big for baseball’s Opening Night
Netflix will air the Yankees-Giants game from Oracle Park in San Francisco on March 25, marking the streaming giant’s debut as a Major League Baseball broadcaster. The game tips off the regular season a night before the rest of MLB opens play, in a standalone primetime window.
The streamer is not planning a quiet entrance. According to a report by the San Francisco Standard, Netflix intends to station 73 red kayaks in McCovey Cove behind Oracle Park’s right field wall for the broadcast. The number is a direct nod to Barry Bonds’ single-season home run record, which he set during the 2001 Giants season. Nine of Bonds’ 73 home runs that year traveled into San Francisco Bay.
Netflix has also confirmed plans for a pop-up bullpen where fans can test their arms before the first pitch. The branded red kayaks will reportedly be available for fans to use on the water. It amounts to one of the more elaborate production setups in recent baseball broadcast history.
The broadcast team and a mystery guest
Netflix revealed seven members of the broadcast team ahead of the game. Matt Vasgersian, recently named the play-by-play voice for the weekly Sunday morning game on Peacock and NBC, will call the action.
Hunter Pence will represent the Giants’ perspective. Pence, a central figure in San Francisco’s World Series dynasty in the early 2010s, still lives in the Bay Area and has done commentary work for NBC Sports Bay Area and Apple TV. CC Sabathia will provide the Yankees’ perspective. Sabathia was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame wearing a Yankees cap, though he was born and raised in Vallejo, California, roughly 30 miles northeast of Oracle Park.
The broadcast will also feature a live studio set hosted by Elle Duncan, with Hall of Famer Albert Pujols and former Yankees and Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo serving as commentators alongside her. Lauren Shehadi will report from the field and team dugouts. Comedian Bert Kreischer is also confirmed, reprising a role he played during Netflix’s NFL Christmas Day broadcast in 2024.
Netflix also teased an eighth, unnamed special guest. Barry Bonds, who rarely grants interviews, has been the subject of speculation regarding an analyst role. His name was not part of the initial announcement, but the tease of a mystery addition kept his name circulating in broadcast discussions as of this week.
Michael Kay: ‘To be blunt, it sucks’
For longtime Yankees play-by-play voice Michael Kay, the Netflix deal is a source of genuine frustration. Kay and game analyst David Cone will not be on the call for Opening Night. Instead, YES Network will only air the middle game of the three-game opening series in San Francisco, after the opener goes to Netflix and the finale goes to Fox.
Kay addressed the situation directly in an interview with Newsday this week.
“To be blunt, it sucks. It really does.”
He expanded on the loss, tying it to what Opening Day has traditionally represented for players and fans alike.
“It’s not ideal because Opening Day, there’s a special pageantry to it, pomp and circumstance. People look forward to pitchers and catchers, that’s number one, and then number two is Opening Day. I guess if I’m Netflix, I’d want the Yankees and the Giants, too, but I know that all of us at YES would rather have it.”
The arrangement is not entirely new for Kay. Last season, the Yankees’ opener aired on ESPN, also bypassing YES. But the scale of the Netflix production gives this year’s situation a different weight. Opening Night is the single most visible game on the baseball calendar, and the Yankees will share that stage with a broadcaster that has never called a major league game before.
YES Network gets the short end of a crowded schedule
The Yankees are one of the most-televised teams in baseball. Their national broadcast schedule includes appearances on Netflix, Apple TV, NBC Peacock, Fox, TNT Sports, ESPN, and Amazon Prime Video. YES produces the Amazon games, but the network still cedes air time whenever a national partner takes over.
That volume of national appearances cuts into YES’s inventory in a way few other local broadcasters experience. The Yankees’ national profile is one of baseball’s strongest revenue assets. But for local fans and the booth crew that has built a relationship with them over decades, every nationally aired game is one fewer opportunity to be the voice in someone’s living room.
Netflix entered live sports through its first Christmas Day NFL broadcast in 2024. The streamer has since been discussed as a natural fit for more international games given its global audience. Its baseball rights package runs through 2028 and covers Opening Night, the Home Run Derby, and one special event each season. This year’s additional event is the Field of Dreams game, scheduled for Aug. 13 in Dyersville, Iowa.
Can Aaron Judge actually splash one?
The McCovey Cove kayak stunt raises a practical baseball question for Yankees fans. Has anyone on New York’s roster ever hit a splash hit at Oracle Park?
The answer is no. Nobody on the Yankees has ever put a ball into the Cove on the fly. The water sits roughly 20 feet behind a 25-foot brick wall in right field, and San Francisco’s marine layer creates an additional factor.
The Giants’ entire projected 26-man roster has combined for just three splash hits. Only 35 of the 108 total splash hits in Oracle Park history have been hit by Giants players, despite the home team playing there since the park opened in 2000. Aaron Judge, the most powerful right-handed hitter in the game today, would seem like the most natural candidate to accomplish the feat. But only one right-handed hitter in the park’s 25-year history has ever done it on the fly.
Whether Netflix gets its literal splash moment or not, the broadcast will draw a massive audience. The Yankees are one of baseball’s two or three most recognized brands worldwide. Paired with a San Francisco team playing at one of the sport’s signature venues, the production is set up to reach fans well beyond the typical Opening Day crowd.
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