Issue #2: Netflix Ruined Opening Night
Netflix Turned Opening Night Into a Three-Hour Hostage Situation
MLB gave Netflix the keys to Opening Night. Netflix responded by cutting away from live at-bats to interview managers, missing the first successful ABS challenge in league history, and producing a broadcast that made Thursday Night Football look like Ken Burns. Three Reddit threads. Fourteen thousand upvotes on the main one. The consensus was unanimous: never again.
We wrote 2,000 words on exactly what went wrong, why MLB let it happen, and what it means for the sport's relationship with streaming. It's the angriest thing we've published so far. We're not sorry.
Quick Hits
Paul Skenes lasted two outs. The reigning NL Cy Young winner threw 37 pitches, gave up five runs, and got pulled before finishing the first inning. He walked the leadoff man, then watched Oneil Cruz lose two fly balls -- one turned into a Brett Baty triple, the other into a Marcus Semien RBI double. Defense, not pitching, was the problem. But 37 pitches is 37 pitches. The Mets' rebuilt lineup did exactly what David Stearns designed it to do. Mets 11, Pirates 7.
Four rookies homered on debut -- a first. Carson Benge (Mets), JJ Wetherholt (Cardinals, 425 feet), Munetaka Murakami (White Sox, 103 mph exit velo), and Chase DeLauter (Guardians, first career plate appearance). DeLauter is just the fifth player in Cleveland's 126-year history to go deep in his first regular-season AB. The prospect class we wrote about in Issue #1 isn't theoretical anymore.
Mike Trout hit a 403-foot reminder. Broke a scoreless tie in the seventh off AJ Blubaugh. Onto the train tracks at Minute Maid. Angels 3, Astros 0. It was his fifth career Opening Day homer -- a franchise record -- and he played center field for the first time since April 2024. He's 34. Houston got shut out at home on the first day of its post-Tucker, post-Valdez, post-Bregman life. And it was Trout -- the ghost of a dynasty that never was -- who did it to the dynasty that's ending now.
Misiorowski threw 101 and struck out 11. The Brewers' 23-year-old averaged 98.3 mph and topped out at 101.1 against the White Sox -- a franchise Opening Day strikeout record. He's the youngest pitcher to hit double-digit K's on Opening Day since Felix Hernandez in 2007. Brewers 14, White Sox 2. Milwaukee traded Freddy Peralta to save money. Misiorowski's answer: I'm the ace now, and it costs a lot less.
Minor League Watch
The Prospect Class Arrived -- Except the One Who Matters Most
Twenty Top 100 prospects made Opening Day rosters. Kevin McGonigle went 4-for-4 in his Tigers debut -- just the second Tiger since 1900 to do that. Justin Crawford won the Phillies' starting center field job after slashing .366/.435/.439 in spring. Andrew Painter landed a rotation spot in Philadelphia.
But Konnor Griffin, the consensus No. 1 prospect in baseball, started the year at Triple-A Indianapolis. So did Max Clark, Walker Jenkins, and Colt Emerson. The rookie class is deep, it's real, and it hasn't even fully arrived yet. Griffin's service time clock is ticking. May feels like the over/under.
The Number
37
Pitches Paul Skenes threw before Don Kelly pulled him Thursday -- the shortest start of his career. In the same game, Francisco Alvarez tapped his helmet and became the first catcher to successfully use the ABS challenge system, overturning a ball into strike three. Two pitches later, Brandon Lowe homered -- if Alvarez hadn't challenged, that's a runner on base for the homer and a completely different game. One game in Pittsburgh contained a Cy Young winner getting chased before recording three outs, the debut of robot-assisted umpiring, and two franchises moving in opposite directions. The Mets won 11-7.
Kevin's Take
The ABS System Just Changed Baseball and Nobody Noticed
Francisco Alvarez tapped his helmet in the third inning Thursday and the future arrived. It was quiet. No fanfare. The ABS challenge system overturned a ball into a strike three and the game moved on. Netflix missed it entirely because they were interviewing someone.
This is going to change everything. Not this year, probably not next year, but eventually. The pitch that used to be a borderline ball is now a challenge opportunity. Catchers who frame well just gained a new weapon. Pitchers who paint corners have a safety net. And umpires who have been untouchable for 150 years now have a review button pointed at their chest.
The robot umps are here. They work. And the biggest baseball broadcast of the year was looking the other way.
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