And there goes Netflix, vanishing from the San Francisco Giants‘ schedule for the rest of the season. What a break.
But wait. Here come the dreaded reinforcements.
Major League Baseball seems to have an identity crisis, balancing what’s best for the fans – say, having your favorite team on the same channel all season – against making a lot of money. You know how that turns out. You lose, and MLB’s team-owning billionaires get all giddy as they buy their sixth and seventh houses.
Advertisement
Compassion doesn’t enter into this, nor does logic or common sense. Put a bunch of money in front of MLB executives and they’ll cave, every time. They all read from a popular billionaires’ guide – “The Wonderful World of Us” – as the fan stews in resentment.
A good friend called our house in a panic on Wednesday, realizing the Giants’ opener would be shown only on Netflix. She’s not a subscriber, and like a lot of older fans, she’s not that anxious to join the streaming party.
If Netflix provided the only obstacle, it wouldn’t be such a big deal. (It’s only signed up for two more baseball events – the Home Run Derby and the Field of Dreams game.) But to make sure you catch every Giants game, you need to be signed up for mlb.tv, Apple TV, Prime Video, Peacock and eventually Netflix, because those people are just getting started.
Drones release smoke to create the U.S. flag during the playing of the national anthem for the MLB Opening Night game between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle)
Thursday night’s broadcast was reasonably acceptable once you got over the absence of Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper. But Netflix dressed it up in a dreadful display of self-importance, relentlessly trumpeting its own shows, hauling out some half-baked comedian (described by former Chronicle colleague Henry Schulman as “some guy screaming from a canoe”) and cluttering up the pregame introductions with a dance team, wildly gyrating their hearts out.
Advertisement
And you wonder: Aside from being pitifully out of context, these dance routines are … what? Are we supposed to watch them making complete fools of themselves instead of the players we’ve been waiting to see for months?
There were other annoyances. For mid-game interviews of the players (who asked for this?), the screen shrank to make room for some kind of multi-colored ribbon display – and wiping out the essential graphics (like, what’s the count?). Viewers have been waiting to see how the new ABS system works with balls and strikes, but on the game’s only challenge – by a Yankees hitter in the fourth inning – Netflix didn’t show the robotic evidence (just barely a strike) that every spectator could see on Oracle’s big board. Unbelievable.
A few essentials were properly in place. It was possible to rewind the telecast back to a crucial episode, except you weren’t able to fast-forward back to live action. If you got home so late you missed the entire game, Netflix made it available. Just fast-forward through an hour and a half of pregame stuff, at an agonizingly slow pace, and you’re there.
We can only be grateful that, for the most part, Giants fans will be getting Kruk & Kuip and another best-in-the-business team, producer Jeff Kuiper and director Jim Lynch, in the production truck. The whole package never looked or sounded so good.
Advertisement
A class act
• The Bay Area has long been known for its excellence in baseball on the radio, and although the Giants aren’t much for promoting their Spanish-speaking broadcasters, these two also rank with the best anywhere. Erwin Higueros and Tito Fuentes (the Giants’ second baseman in the Mays-Marichal years) have nearly 60 years of combined experience, and this will be their second season working all 162 games on KSFN 1510 AM and Radio Lazer 99.3 FM, along with longtime engineer Carlos Orellana. These guys are so good, with a whole bunch of Northern California Emmy awards in their stash, it can be a pleasant listening experience even if you don’t speak the language.
Giants Spanish-speaking broadcasters Tito Fuentes (right) and Erwin Higueros in their booth at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. (Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle)
• The flip side, baffling but true: With a massive audience of Hispanic baseball fans in the immediate area, the L.A. Angels refuse to send their Spanish-speaking broadcasters on the road. This is the wretched work of Arte Moreno, their Mexican-American owner, but then again, he’s been a stifling hindrance to that organization for years, most recently declaring that fans care much more about “affordability” than winning. No wonder the team never wins, and good for Ron Washington, getting the hell out of there to become a Giants coach.
Advertisement
• The 3-Dot Lounge takes pride in watching or taping as many games as possible, every day of the season. In reading countless articles about MLB’s fractured TV setup, why doesn’t anyone mention the long-standing “Extra Innings” package on DirecTV? Every game is available, save the odd streaming intrusion, and you’re usually given a choice of home vs. visiting team broadcasters. Two simple moves – this subscription and another to the NBC Sports Bay Area full service – puts you in fine shape for the season, and you get the A’s, Warriors and Sharks in the deal.
• Giants fans are going to love watching Luis Arráez, a legitimate .300 hitter – remember when he was hitting .381 at the beginning of August three years ago? – and one of the stars of Venezuela’s championship team in the WBC. He definitely makes that country’s all-time team, although Jose Altuve or Manny Trillo might own second base, with Miguel Cabrera and Andres Galarraga at first base/DH.
There’s such a great shortstop tradition in Venezuela, from the original (Chico Carrasquel, 1950) through Luis Aparicio, Ozzie Guillen, Dave Concepcion and Omar Vizquel. And such style: Just from a Giants angle, it’s instant pleasure at the recollection of Pablo Sandoval (three homers in a World Series game), Marco Scutaro (arms to the rainy sky), Yusmeiro Petit (epic playoff relief when the Giants needed 18 innings to beat Washington), and Gregor Blanco (with his miraculous catch behind Matt Cain’s perfect game).
• I loved Italy’s team photo after the victory that sent it into the semifinals of the WBC. Aside from that surprisingly proficient group of players, there’s Ned Colletti, the former Giants executive who served as Italy’s general manager and put the team together. Colletti’s parents were immigrants from Sicily, and as he grew up in Chicago, Ned became immersed in baseball through his father and an uncle who knew some of the Cubs’ players.
Advertisement
Wrigley Field was life itself and baseball was a teacher, teaching kids about “team spirit, hard work and staying together in hard times,” as Colletti wrote in his autobiography, “The Big Chair.” Back in Italy, few people knew anything about baseball – until earlier this month, when virtually the entire country followed the WBC. “I told the guys they are the champions of this tournament,” said manager Francisco Cervelli. “They revolutionized Italy. They put another sport on the map.”
This article originally published at Grateful Netflix Opening Night is over, Giants fans? MLB doesn’t care about your convenience.