During Wednesday’s season opener between the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants, Netflix received a crash course in digital graphics from baseball enthusiasts.
Fans, already displeased with Netflix holding exclusive rights to Opening Day, found their frustrations compounded by the streaming service’s innovative scorebug — a digital scoreboard nestled in the bottom right corner of the screen.
The popular X account, @SleeperMLB, voiced its discontent, stating, ‘This score bug is AWFUL.’
Another complaint surfaced, comparing the scorebug unfavorably to the one used by Bally Sports, now FanDuel Sports Network, saying, ‘I didn’t think a scorebug could get worse than the Bally Sports one. Netflix may have just proven me wrong.’
Such critiques are not new for Netflix and other streaming platforms as they venture into live sports, but this time, baseball fans zeroed in on the specifics.
One fan commented during the Yankees’ 7-0 triumph, ‘I like the aesthetic and concept, but the text is shockingly small. The pitcher and batter text is the smallest I have ever seen on any sports scorebug/lower third.’
Fans were annoyed with the scorebug in the lower right-hand corner of the screen
As is often the case when a network or streaming platform tries its hand at sports, fans were initially confused by the scorebug, the digital icon that displays the game’s pertinent details
Some kept it fairly simple: ‘This scorebug has me squinting.’
‘What on God’s green Earth is this Netflix scorebug,’ asked one fan of the icon at the bottom of the screen.
‘That Netflix scorebug is irritating me,’ another added.
And the complaints didn’t end with the scorebug. Fans also offered other production notes to the Netflix crew in San Francisco.
‘Relax on the zoom with the cameras,’ read one suggestion. ‘Can’t see much of anything when the balls in play.’
Another fan likened the broadcast to the Yankees’ cable network: ‘This Netflix game is just an overproduced YES production; it’s technically competent, but I can’t stand the presentation around it and if I watch, it’s always with WCBS audio instead.’
Many other complaints focused on Netflix’s exclusive rights to the game, which made it difficult to watch for some. Adding to the frustration was the the streaming service’s attempts to promote several shows, including another season of Netflix’s Addams Family spinoff, Wednesday.
‘Netflix broadcasting a baseball game to the whole country in an absurd marketing stunt at the start of the MLB season,’ one critic wrote on X.
‘It was a bad decision to put the mlb opener on netflix,’ another added. ‘[For] the first time in thirty years I [don’t] get to see opening day. thanks guys.’
‘Looking forward to NOT being able to watch my Giants play the Yanks on opening day tonight thanks to Netflix, despite paying the annual fee for the baseball app,’ one fan wrote on X, referring to MLB.TV’s $29.99 monthly plan. ‘MLB is just as bad as football. Gotta have like 4 diff streaming services if you wanna actually see all games.’
Elle Duncan landed a joke about Jameis Winston’s 2014 arrest for shoplifting crab legs
Hosted by former ESPN broadcaster Elle Duncan, the Netflix pre-game show included Giants legend Barry Bonds, legendary St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols, retired Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo, and CC Sabathia, the dominant former Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees pitcher.
But beyond the strictly baseball folks, the broadcast also included contributions from WWE legend John Cena, shirtless comedian Bert Kreischer and Jameis Winston, the NFL quarterback and former Florida State pitcher.
Interestingly, with Winston doing a segment from a seafood stand at San Francisco’s Oracle Park, Duncan cracked a joke about his 2014 arrest for shoplifting crab legs from a Tallahassee grocery store.
‘I’m gonna address the elephant in the room,’ Duncan told Winston. ‘Jameis, did you pay for the crab legs?’
Winston leaned into the joke.
‘I may or may not be plotting to find ways to get some fresh crab legs,’ he said, later adding: ‘Folks my history with crab legs.’
Despite the levity, some fans complained about Winston’s contributions as well.
‘Netflix is making me hate Jameis Winston!’one wrote on X. ‘I’m Jameis Winston’d out!’
It wasn’t all bad, though. Some fans enjoyed Winston’s contributions, calling him ‘pure electric,’ while Bonds dropped an absolute stunning story.
Barry Bonds served as a pre-game and in-game analyst for Netflix’s Opening Day coverage
Bonds claimed he hung up the phone on George Steinbrenner, who was trying to make him the highest-paid player in baseball at the time. Ultimately Bonds decided to sign with the Giants
Barry Bonds is pictured with his father Bobby Bonds (near left) and godfather Willie Mays (far left) after signing a free-agent contract with the San Francisco Giants in December of 1992
During an in-game interview with the Netflix booth, led by play-by-play announcer Matt Vasgersian, Bonds recalled being a free agent in December of 1992 and getting a phone call from then-Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.
‘I got to tell you story, because George isn’t here anymore, so I can tell the truth, right?’ Bonds asked the booth.
Steinbrenner, Donald Trump’s long-time friend and the famously irascible Yankees owner, died in 2010, but his family continues to own the team.
As Bonds recalled, Steinbrenner called and said he would make him the ‘highest-paid player at that time,’ with one stipulation.
‘You have two sign the contract by two o’clock this afternoon,’ Bonds continued. ‘And I said, “excuse me,” and just hung up the phone.’
Bonds, already a three-time MVP by that time, went to get lunch after hanging up on Steinbrenner and received a phone call from his the Giants soon thereafter. And seeing as his father, Bobby, had played in San Francisco and Barry had grown up there, the decision was easy.
‘I said, “I’m going home.”‘
Naturally, that story got a major reaction on social media as well.
