Major League Baseball on Netflix

In February 2025, ESPN and MLB announced that both parties had exercised a mutual opt-out to end their media agreement following the previous 2025 season; this contract was originally going to expire after the 2028 season.^[3][4] In November 2025, MLB reached new, three-year agreements with ESPN, NBC Sports, and Netflix to replace ESPN's previous deal.^[5][6]

More specifically,^[7] Netflix acquired rights to selected Major League Baseball (MLB) games for the 2026 to 2028 seasons, including Opening Night^[8][9], the Home Run Derby^[10], and an additional special event matchup each season, including the 2026 season Field of Dreams game.^[11] The deal overall, is reportedly worth^[12][13] $35-$50 million^[14] annually.

The inaugural telecast^[15][16] was the Opening Night game between the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants from Oracle Park in San Francisco, California on March 25, 2026.

In August 2025, Netflix acquired exclusive rights to the 2026 World Baseball Classic in Japan, with Nippon Television subcontracted to produce the broadcasts^[17][18] for an estimated 15 billion yen.^[19] Previously, the World Baseball Classic had been split between free-to-air (FTA) television and the pay television channel J Sports, with Japan's games usually being the only ones broadcast by FTA channels.^{[20][21][22][19]} Netflix subcontracted production of the broadcasts to Nippon Television.^[17]

The Netflix agreement faced a mixed reaction among fans and critics, as it marked the first time that Japan's WBC games would not be available on FTA television.^[23] Bars raised concerns that they would not be able to stream the tournament at their establishments due to Netflix's terms of service prohibiting commercial use, with some venues electing to do so discreetly in order to evade detection and legal complaints. As another workaround, some karaoke parlors enabled the ability for patrons to sign into the Netflix app in their private booths, so that they could watch the tournament with their friends.^[24] Netflix announced that it would offer a one-month subscription for 500 yen (approximately US$3.34) during March as a promotional offer for the tournament, and also organized public viewing parties in collaboration with venues such as Aeon and pub chain The HUB.^{[25][26][27][24]}

Some critics argued that negative reception to the deal was a form of Galápagos syndrome, noting that streaming was more prevalent among younger audiences than traditional television, the fact that non-Japan games would be available on a cheaper, over-the-top platform, and that Netflix was a well-known outlet internationally.^[28] Others believed that the lack of WBC coverage on television would reduce fatigue from the excessive media coverage of Shohei Ohtani by Japanese terrestrial networks.^{[29][30][31][32]}

According to the Japanese newspaper Nikkei, the number of Netflix mobile app downloads grew about five times higher than in March of the prior year.^[33]

Similarly to Netflix's NFL coverage, production is overseen by EverWonder Studio, with MLB Network producing the game broadcasts. For the opening night game, the production featured 30 different cameras (including augmented reality cameras, and one on a kayak in McCovey Cove).^[34][35]