Netflix wants Barry Bonds in the booth when the Giants and Yankees open the 2026 season at Oracle Park on March 25.
The streaming giant is pursuing Bonds for both pregame and postgame coverage of its first baseball broadcast, according to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand. Netflix is also trying to sign CC Sabathia for the Yankees side of the matchup.
Bonds makes sense for Netflix on multiple levels. He spent the final 15 seasons of his career leading the Giants’ lineup, retired as baseball’s all-time home run leader with 762, and would bring instant credibility to a broadcast team with no experience covering baseball. His connection to the Home Run Derby — which Netflix also owns rights to under its three-year MLB agreement — creates additional value beyond Opening Day. If you’re trying to sell baseball’s power-hitting spectacle to a global streaming audience, having the guy who hit more home runs than anyone in history seems like an obvious move.
Sabathia would handle the Yankees side. He’s been a regular on MLB Network’s “Clubhouse Edition” and previously hosted the R2C2 podcast with ESPN’s Ryan Ruocco. He won a World Series with the Yankees in 2009 and spent nine of his 19 Hall of Fame seasons in New York, which makes him an obvious choice to provide insight on a team Netflix needs to make compelling for a massive Opening Day audience.
As for the remainder of Netflix’s would-be Opening Day crew, Elle Duncan joined the streamer in December as the platform’s lead studio host for all sports programming — including MLB — and will anchor pregame and postgame shows. Netflix still hasn’t announced its play-by-play announcer or game analysts, which leaves the broadcast team half-built with Opening Day six weeks away.
The Giants-Yankees matchup gives Netflix exactly what it wants. It’s the kind of tentpole event that fits Netflix’s sports strategy, which has focused on big one-off showcases rather than grinding through full seasons of weekly programming. Netflix’s three-year MLB deal includes Opening Day, the Home Run Derby, and the Field of Dreams game between the Phillies and Twins on August 13.
Bonds has largely stayed away from baseball since his playing career ended, though he’s made occasional public appearances and has been called an “underutilized asset” by Alex Rodriguez, who argued baseball should make better use of its legends regardless of their complicated pasts. If Netflix signs Bonds, it would mark his most prominent role in the sport since serving as the Miami Marlins’ hitting coach in 2016.