San Francisco Giants pitcher Logan Webb is scheduled to start against the New York Yankees as the 2026 MLB season opens Wednesday, March 25, with the first-ever game broadcast in the United States by Netflix.
Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
The 2026 Major League Baseball season will open at Oracle Park with a historic, marquee matchup between the San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees.
It’ll be the only game on Wednesday — and yet, other than attending in person, Giants fans can only watch it if they have a Netflix subscription.
MLB Opening Day 2026
Who: New York Yankees at San Francisco Giants.
When: 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 25.
Streaming: Netflix, featuring Matt Vasgersian, CC Sabathia and Hunter Pence.
Radio: KNBR, 106.9 FM or 680 AM, featuring Jon Miller, Dave Flemming, Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow.
Subscription packages for MLB partners
Giants.tv: In partnership with NBC Sports Bay Area, it streams Giants games without blackouts for $19.99 per month or $119.99 for the season. Subscriptions can be bundled with MLB.tv, the streaming home of all major-league teams, for $39.99 monthly and $219.99 seasonally.
Netflix: Opening night game, All-Star Home Run Derby, Field of Dreams game. $7.99-$24.99 per month.
Peacock: The streaming home of NBC/NBCSN — which has “Sunday Night Baseball,” “Sunday Leadoff” and Wild-Card playoff games — is $7.99-$16.99 per month or $79.99-$169.99 per year.
Apple TV: Friday night doubleheaders for $12.99 per month or $99.99 per year.
Peacock/Apple TV bundle: $14.99-$19.99 per month.
That’s right. The Los Altos-based streamer, known for award-winning movies such as “KPop Demon Hunters” and hit series like “Stranger Things” and “Squid Game,” will be broadcasting a baseball game for the first time ever in the United States.
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It’s part of an ongoing evolution in the sports media landscape, one with ripple effects that go far beyond McCovey Cove.
This season, to see all 162 regular-season games, a Giants fan would have to subscribe to Netflix, Peacock, Apple TV and a cable or streaming service like YouTube TV that carries NBC Sports Bay Area, ESPN and Fox Sports channels. There is also Giants.tv, a streaming app through MLB.tv, which began last season and this year will carry all but 13 games.
Longtime San Francisco Giants radio broadcaster Dave Flemming says “it is amazing the technology that allows you to follow your team no matter where you are.”
Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle
There’s never been a more expensive time to be a Giants fan.
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Long gone are the days when Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons called games over the air on KTVU. Even the comfort of Kruk and Kuip (Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper) broadcasting games on NBCSBA as part of a cable package isn’t a sure thing, with an increasing number of games being siphoned off to streaming services.
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And yet, longtime Giants broadcaster Dave Flemming believes it’s easier than ever for fans to keep up with their favorite team.
“The diversification is one issue, and you could argue that it makes it harder to track where your games are going to be, and I can see that argument,” Flemming told the Chronicle. “But it is absolutely amazing that Giants fans all over the globe — no matter where they live, no matter what time zone — can pull up a device in their hand and watch a game.”
Flemming recalls an East Coast day game in which KNBR producer Darren Chan, noting the 8 a.m. start time in the Bay Area, thought it would be fun to ask listeners on social media where they were listening from, and if they were having breakfast.
East Bay native Matt Vasgersian will call the first-ever U.S. game broadcast by Netflix when the Giants meet the Yankees at Oracle Park on Wednesday, March 25, 2026.
Kohjiro Kinno / ESPN Images
“Literally, we had people all over the world tell us they were listening, what they were having for breakfast or if they were in Amsterdam, what they’re having for dinner,” Flemming said. “It was kind of an eye-opening moment for me. I just thought, you know, for all the hand-wringing about, ‘Is it too expensive and is it too fragmented?’ it is amazing the technology that allows you to follow your team no matter where you are.”
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Netflix will broadcast the MLB opener in different languages in some 200 countries, giving the Giants a worldwide platform. That’s mind-blowing for veteran play-by-play announcer Matt Vasgersian, an East Bay native who will serve as the English play-by-play announcer for the Netflix-streamed game and calls it “a big responsibility.”
Vasgersian will share the booth with commentators CC Sabathia, a Vallejo native and Baseball Hall of Famer, and former Giants World Series hero Hunter Pence.
Former Giants slugger Barry Bonds will be among the pre-and postgame analyst team.
“I used to get very frustrated by the fact that the A’s did not have a complete television schedule” locally, said Vasgersian, who grew up in Moraga idolizing Oakland A’s, Warriors and Raiders announcer Bill King. “The idea that every game is on TV is something that I didn’t grow up with. So to have these rights piecemealed together now, I understand the fans’ frustrations. (But) I think the league is aware of not pricing people out. That’s nobody’s idea of good.”
New York Yankees star Aaron Judge, a San Joaquin County native, is scheduled to start at Oracle Park against the Giants in the 2026 MLB opener.
Godofredo A. Vásquez/Associated Press
It makes sense that sports is entering the new media landscape. For years, movies, series, reality shows and concerts have migrated from traditional over-the-air and cable networks to streaming. To see one’s favorite movies and TV shows, it seems the average consumer needs to subscribe to an endless array of streaming services.
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MLB appears to be trying to position itself to transition to the new reality in the most optimal way. The league made the unusual move of resetting all of its broadcast partnerships to three-year contracts, beginning this season, welcoming new partners in Netflix and NBC/Peacock, while maintaining relationships with Apple TV and longtime partners Fox, ESPN and TBS. It could be an $800 million (the combined value of the rights packages) version of throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks.
Netflix, which has broadcast NFL games the past two Christmas days as well as boxing matches and other one-off sporting events, is the most eye-catching new player.
The streaming giant will broadcast an exclusive Opening Day game the next three seasons, beginning with Yankees-Giants; the Home Run Derby the night before the All-Star Game; and the annual Field of Dreams game, a regular-season game played on a field adjacent to the cornfield where the 1989 Kevin Costner movie “Field of Dreams” was filmed (this year’s game is slated for Aug. 13 between the Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins).
Gabe Spitzer, Netflix’s vice president of live sports, emphasized that Netflix is “in the event business more than the live sports volume business,” and drew upon his experience as a documentary filmmaker to present a vision that appealed to MLB.
New San Francisco Giants’ manager Tony Vitello, right, was hired by President of Baseball Operations’ Buster Posey. left, during the offseason.
Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
“It really comes down to characters,” said Spitzer, who will be at Oracle Park on Wednesday. “You’re telling a story, whether you’re watching a live game or you’re doing a documentary. It comes down to that access and authenticity we talk about on Netflix all the time. You want to feel like if you’re a viewer you’re inside and you’re learning something new. That story could be the ebb and flow of a game, it could be the backstory of a player that you might have never heard of and now you’re rooting for him.”
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The other big twist is the entry of NBC/NBCSN/Peacock, which takes over “Sunday Night Baseball” and the Wild Card round of the playoffs from ESPN and “Sunday Leadoff” games from the Roku Channel. NBC, which broadcast the first-ever televised game in 1939, hasn’t been a regular MLB partner since 2000.
Deals with Fox Sports, which broadcasts the All-Star Game, later-round playoffs, World Series and Saturday national games; Apple TV, which streams Friday night doubleheaders, including a Giants game against the Baltimore Orioles on April 10; and TBS, which offers Tuesday night games plus later-round playoff games, are essentially the same. ESPN moves to a midweek package of games.
All of this is good news for Giants fans, insists Rachel Heit, the team’s chief marketing officer. The more national exposure, the better for the Orange and Black.
At the local level, she noted that ratings for Giants games have experienced an uptick in viewership since the A’s left Oakland for Sacramento last season. She also noted that — coincidentally or not — Giants’ Opening Day starting pitcher Logan Webb’s recent successful appearances at the World Baseball Classic coincided with a spike in ticket sales.
Logan Webb’s starts for Team U.S.A. during the World Baseball Classic have helped sell tickets for the San Francisco Giants.
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
“We are seeing increasing ticket sales as we march towards MLB Opening Night. Whether or not that was due to the spectacular 71 pitches that Logan Webb threw for Team U.S.A., I can’t directly attribute (it) to that,” said Heit, referring to Webb’s performance in a 5-2 quarterfinal win over Canada on March 13.
Ultimately, she said, her objective “is to deliver an amazing fan experience at the 81 home games played here at Oracle Park, as well as the 162 televised games.”
As to the latter, Flemming says Giants fans will be pleased with the local broadcasts as well. For example, the NBCSBA crew, which debuts this season when the Giants resume their series with the Yankees on Friday, is doubling down on drone shots, which were introduced last season and proved popular with fans.
“We’re going to continue to push the envelope with technology,” Flemming said. “Giants fans really enjoyed our drone coverage, and I think we’re gonna get more, not less of that this season.
“The thing that I’ve emphasized to all of us with the Giants over the last few years is our ballpark is the greatest setting for baseball you could ever dream up. It’s spectacular, and finding ways to highlight that makes it more fun to watch.”