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Elle Duncan on Netflix’s Opening Night MLB Game: ‘This Was Not for Baseball Purists’

The host blasted critics of the streamer’s Yankees-Giants season opener and made it clear sports fans aren’t a priority for the service.
Jimmy Traina|
Elle Duncan says Netflix’s baseball telecasts are for ‘baseball-curious’ people.
Elle Duncan says Netflix’s baseball telecasts are for ‘baseball-curious’ people. | Netflix

1. Here was the opening to my column the morning after Netflix aired the Yankees-Giants game on Opening Night:

“Thank goodness Netflix only airs two real baseball games a season. Thank GOODNESS!”

Those exact words kept going through my head while listening to Netflix host Elle Duncan defend Netflix during an appearance on Pablo Torre Finds Out and criticize the backlash that the streamer received after its awful telecast of the game.

I actually think it’s stupid for me to write about Netflix again since it is only airing one other MLB game this season (the Phillies-Twins game on Aug. 13 from the Field of Dreams site in Iowa, plus the Home Run Derby), two events I will easily blow off.

But I can’t help but take a bow and brag about being right, so I’m writing about Netflix again.

Here was the closing to that column: “You could not have turned off viewers more with a presentation of a game than Netflix did on Opening Night. And it is more evident than ever before that networks and leagues could not possibly care less about your legit sports fan.”

Duncan confirmed that to Torre, saying, “Whenever there’s criticism that I saw like, ‘It was just so Netflix. It was not for baseball purists.’ … This was not for baseball purists. You’ll watch it anywhere. This was for the baseball-curious.”

This is what I’ve been saying for years now. If you are a legit sports fan who just wants to watch a game, you are screwed. You are not important, you don’t count, networks and leagues have no interest in catering to you.

“A lot of what Netflix is doing in the sports world is, yes, for the people that are always going to watch those sports, but also the people that maybe tuned in to to watch Love is Blind, saw the button for ‘Opening Day on Netflix,’ and thought, ‘All right, I’ll check it out,’" Duncan added.

Opening Day is one of the sacred days on the sports calendar. It has a lot of meaning to baseball fans. If Netflix wanted to fart around with another game, people would’ve been less offended. But as Duncan told you, Netflix was more interested in Opening Day to get the Love Is Blind fan than to take care of the Major League Baseball fan.

To take a step further, Duncan blames the baseball fan for being upset with Netflix’s awful presentation of a baseball game on Opening Night.

“This is like going to a Mexican restaurant and b----ing that they don’t have barbecue,” said Duncan. “They advertise as a Mexican restaurant. It’s your fault that you somehow thought they were somehow gonna serve barbecue.”

I have absolutely no idea what this Mexican restaurant/barbecue analogy means. I just know that on Opening Night, when I tuned into a baseball game, I want to see a baseball game. Not a three-hour Netflix commercial and telecast with people who have nothing to do with baseball with a hazy picture and an embarrassing interview with the commissioner.

“Netflix has made no qualms about who they are,” said Duncan. "We’re going to eventicize these things, we’re gonna pull people from the Netflix universe. That’s what we’re going to do.”

Again, thank goodness I don’t have to watch another baseball event on Netflix for the rest of the season.

Duncan added, “I’m sorry if you didn’t like Bert Kreischer. I’m sorry he took up six minutes of your four-hour viewing experience.”

Even though the apology was sarcastic, I’ll take it since I do deserve one for those painful six minutes.

2. Let me be very clear about this: It doesn’t matter if the President is Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George Bush, Bill Clinton or anyone else. This is not about who the President is. This is about how Tiger Woods says, “I was just talking to the President” at the scene of his latest car accident.

The tone, the arrogance, the cringe of I-called-the President-of-the-United-States-of-America-so-hopefully-this-doesn’t-become-public-and-I-don’t-get-in-trouble is what’s notable here. Just pathetic behavior.

3. Dan Orlovsky’s son, Madden, joined NFL Live on Thursday as part of Autism Awareness Day. It didn’t take Dan long to get emotional and who can blame him. What a cool kid.

4. Speaking of kids, I can tell you that I laughed harder at this video from Thursday’s Mets-Giants game more than anything I’ve seen in ages. The dad’s complete cluelessness while his son wails away killed me.

5. Since I’m a New Yorker, I’ll never understand the nonsense about Friday nights being dedicated to high school football. College football and the NFL should have free rein to do whatever they want on Friday nights as far as I’m concerned.

The chairman of Texas Tech, Cody Campbell, is all bent out of shape because his school is scheduled to play on a Friday night this season.

Again, because I’m a New Yorker, this just seems like a completely unhinged tweet to me.

I can relate much more to Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, who doesn’t give a blank about the “sacredness” of Friday night high school football, and let Campbell know that.

6. This week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation about all the latest news withThe Athletic’s sports media reporter, Andrew Marchand.

Topics discussed include: Netflix’s awful broadcast of the Yankees-Giants game on Opening Night; what Netflix gets out of a deal with Major League Baseball; NBC’s return to airing MLB games; Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery and Grant Hill’s work on the NCAA men’stournament; CBS’s and Turner’s very deep and impressive roster of college basketball announcers; issues with the CBS/Turner tournament studio show; the NFL trying to feature as many standalone games as possible and much more.

Following Marchand, Sal Licata, from SNY TV andThe Sal Licata Show, joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, Sal gives a report on what it was like to experience the ABS challenge system in person at a recent Mets game while I break down my issues with a new commercial starring Larry David. In addition, I talk about becoming obsessed with HBO’s new show,DTF St. Louis.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 65th birthday to the greatest stand-up comedian of my lifetime favorite, Eddie Murphy.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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