The 2026 MLB Home Run Derby delivered a thrilling finish—St. Louis Cardinals slugger Jordan Walker edged Kyle Schwarber 31-30 in the finals—but the celebration was muted by a brutal reality check: almost nobody watched.
According to Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal, Netflix's debut broadcast of the event pulled in just 5.3 million viewers, the lowest number since 2003. While that's only a 7% drop from last year's ESPN telecast (5.7 million) and a hair below the 5.5 million from two years ago, the historic low is a red flag for baseball's push into streaming.
Fans on social media were quick to point fingers. One user wrote, “Fragment the audience against so many different platforms that it's inevitably going to impact ratings.” Another said, “After seeing how Netflix did hosting 'Opening Night,' I didn't bother watching the Derby. Sounds like I didn't miss much either.” A third added, “While ESPN doesn't have the households it once did, I think leagues still underestimate the added surround strategy that ESPN brings in the days leading up that bolster ratings. This HRD felt like it snuck up on me.”
The switch to Netflix was part of MLB's broader strategy to reach younger audiences, but early returns suggest growing pains. The NASCAR's Prime Video gamble paid off in year two, but baseball's streaming experiment has yet to find its rhythm. Some critics argue that the Derby's production quality suffered, with one fan lamenting, “Ironically the most entertaining Derby in years, but the broadcast and camera work were atrocious, plus people are sick of jumping between 20 different platforms to watch stuff.”
Others pointed to broader issues. “More people may have Netflix than ESPN, but it is always better to put an event you want people to watch on a regular channel and not on a streaming service,” one user noted. The Will Ferrell's Home Run Derby antics that sparked fan fury earlier this year may have also soured some viewers on the event's direction.
The 2026 Derby also marked the return of the classic outs format, a change that Jeff Passan warned might not fix deeper problems. While the competition itself was praised, the low viewership raises questions about whether MLB can afford to keep bouncing between platforms. The FOX scores big with World Cup ratings shows traditional broadcast still has muscle, but Netflix's Derby numbers suggest streaming isn't an automatic win.
For now, MLB and Netflix can take some solace in the relatively small year-over-year decline. But with the worst ratings in 23 years, the message from fans is clear: stop making us hunt for the game.
