MLB Opening Night on Netflix
MLB's 2026 regular season kicks off tonight, March 25 — New York Yankees vs. San Francisco Giants at 8:05 p.m. ET, and the game will stream live on Netflix (a first for MLB). The Athletic's preseason power rankings and playoff odds rolled out ahead of first pitch to set expectations for the opening slate. ( ).
Major League Baseball announced on Nov. 19, 2025 that new three‑year media deals running 2026–2028 split national packages among ESPN, NBCUniversal and Netflix, with Netflix taking exclusive rights to Opening Night and other marquee events. (mlb.com) Netflix’s 2026 slate specifically lists Opening Night, the T‑Mobile Home Run Derby on July 13 at Citizens Bank Park, and an MLB at Field of Dreams game in Dyersville on Aug. 13 as the streamer’s live events for the year. (netflix.com) MLB Network’s Emmy‑winning production unit is producing the Netflix broadcasts in partnership with Netflix, and the streamer’s on‑air lineup for Opening Night includes Matt Vasgersian, Lauren Shehadi, Elle Duncan, CC Sabathia, Hunter Pence, Albert Pujols and Anthony Rizzo listed on Netflix’s event page. (netflix.com 1) (netflix.com 2) The Opening Night broadcast is exclusive to Netflix’s live window and will be available to subscribers across the platform’s tiers; Netflix’s event listing shows plans starting at $7.99/month while MLB and outlets flagged the exclusivity as part of the new rights split. (netflix.com) (sports.yahoo.com) Yankees and Giants pitching matchups for the Netflix opener were reported with Max Fried listed to start for the Yankees and Logan Webb for the Giants, and outlets noted Games 2 and 3 of the short series will return to more traditional distributors (MLB.TV/NBC/Fox). (sports.yahoo.com) Preseason power rankings and playoff‑odds models released March 24–25 put the Los Angeles Dodgers atop most lists, and FanGraphs’ preseason projections show the Dodgers with roughly a 99% chance to make the playoffs and about a mid‑20s percent chance to win the World Series in 2026. (nytimes.com) (fangraphs.com)
