NEW YORK — The most decorated brand in American sports is about to get the screen treatment twice over. Two productions built around the New York Yankees are moving forward at the same time, one on film and one for streaming.
For a franchise used to controlling its own story, the timing is rare. Rarely do a feature film and a scripted series about the same club surface within weeks of each other.
Both projects lean on the Yankees name as a selling point. Both promise to reach far beyond the box score. And one of them carries a wrinkle that has already caught the attention of fans who track every slight against the pinstripes.
The catch sits with the people telling the story, not the story itself. That is where a celebration of Yankees history bumps into an uncomfortable piece of casting off the field.
A Netflix drama that spans the franchise’s eras
The larger of the two projects is a scripted drama series in development at Netflix. The show centers on the Yankees and is built to move across several eras of the franchise rather than a single team or title run.
MLB Studios is producing alongside Aggregate Films, the company run by Emmy winner Jason Bateman, and writer, director and producer Josh Wakely. Wakely developed the concept after securing the rights from Major League Baseball.
The list of executive producers runs deep. It includes Bateman and Michael Costigan for Aggregate Films, Wakely for Grace: A Storytelling Company, Nick Trotta for MLB Studios, and Peter Sobiloff, Mike Sobiloff, Sean Mullin, Josh Glick, Daniel Cohan and Jon Liebman for Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
The source material is enormous. The Yankees own 27 World Series championships, more than any other franchise in North American sports, with the most recent in 2009. The club also claims 52 players and 11 managers in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, a group that includes Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Reggie Jackson.
No release window has been set, and specific plot details remain under wraps. The reports on the project surfaced Aug. 7.
The producer behind the show roots for the enemy
The friction is not about the plot. It is about who is helping build the show.
Bateman, the marquee name attached to the Yankees series, is a Los Angeles Dodgers fan. That detail would be trivia in most cases. It stings more here because the Dodgers beat the Yankees in the 2024 World Series.
Bateman did not hide his allegiance this year. He narrated the Dodgers’ 2026 Opening Day hype video in March, leaning into the role of villain for the defending champions.
“What’s wrong with being the bad guy?” Bateman said in the video. “If being the best makes you bad, then so be it.”
Now the same voice is central to a series celebrating the team the Dodgers denied. For a fan base that keeps score off the field as closely as on it, that is a hard image to shake.
The creative history helps explain the pairing. Aggregate Films has a long partnership with Netflix that produced “Ozark” and the limited series “Black Rabbit.” Wakely previously created the Emmy-winning Netflix series “Beat Bugs” and its follow-up, “Motown Magic.”
A Lou Gehrig film with a rising star attached
The second project is a feature film, and it reaches back nearly a century. Universal is developing a movie about Lou Gehrig, the Yankees first baseman known as “The Iron Horse.”
Glen Powell is attached to star as Gehrig. Richard Linklater is set to direct, reuniting with Powell after “Everybody Wants Some!!” and “Hit Man.” Simon Rich, a former “Saturday Night Live” writer, is writing the script. “Saturday Night Live” creator and lifelong Yankees fan Lorne Michaels is attached as a producer.
Gehrig is one of the most revered figures in Yankees history. He spent his entire 17-year career in the Bronx, earned seven All-Star selections and won two Most Valuable Player awards. He was part of World Series winners in 1927, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1937 and 1938.
His endurance record defined the nickname. Gehrig played 2,130 consecutive games, a mark that stood until Cal Ripken Jr. passed it in 1998. His career ended in 1939 after he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, now widely known as ALS. He died on June 2, 1941.
The untitled film remains far from production. The rest of the cast has not been announced, and no release date is set. The reports on the movie surfaced in July.
Two spotlights arrive during a bumpy season
The Hollywood attention lands while the current Yankees fight to stay relevant in the postseason race. The screen glow and the standings tell very different stories.
Through Aug. 18, the Yankees sit at 69-55, second in the AL East. They trail the first-place Tampa Bay Rays by six games and hold a cushion over the Boston Red Sox. The club remains in the wild-card mix but has spent the summer chasing rather than leading.
The projects also fit a broader push. Netflix and MLB signed a three-year rights deal announced in December 2025 that runs through 2028. The streamer carried the 2026 Opening Night game between the Yankees and Giants in March and the T-Mobile Home Run Derby in July. Its next live MLB event, the Field of Dreams Game between the Phillies and Twins in Dyersville, Iowa, aired Aug. 13.
For now, the Yankees carry two identities. One plays out on the field in a tight AL East race. The other is being written in Hollywood, where the franchise’s past is suddenly prime material, even if one of the storytellers quietly pulls for the other side.
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