A historic baseball moment will forever be remembered for being overshadowed by an in-game manager interview.
Those waiting for the first Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge Wednesday may have felt underwhelmed since it happened while Netflix conducted an interview with Giants manager Tony Vitello.
The broadcast showed Yankees shortstop Jose Caballero touched his helmet to challenge a strike during the fourth inning of the 7-0 win over San Francisco before cutting to a close-up of Vitello.
The interview continued while the stadium announcer said in the background that the call had been challenged before the feed cut back to show Caballero and home plate umpire Bill Miller standing around.
Once Vitello stopped talking about Max Fried’s strategy, play-by-play announcer Matt Vasgersian told viewers how the first challenge had happened — while Miller and Caballero resumed positions.
Caballero officially lost his challenge and the at-bat resumed in an 0-1 count with the Yankees ahead, 5-0, and he ultimately grounded out against Logan Webb.
Viewers missed in live-time the whole machinations of the challenge, which could have been helpful since not everyone is a diehard who knows exactly what the challenge entail.
The new ABS system features, per MLB.com, “a graphic displaying the result is then transmitted over a 5G network from T-Mobile’s Advanced Network Solutions and nearly instantaneously shown to those in attendance via the videoboard and to home viewers via the broadcast.”
Those watching from their sofas would have had no idea that was the case in the moment.
MLB later posted a clip providing more context which Vasgersian narrated, showing the automated zone and where the ball just clipped the zone.
It’s fair to give Netflix some leeway since they can’t plan for when a challenge may happen, but it’s a tough look for their high-profile broadcast baseball debut.
The broadcast came under fire from some for other aspects, including the new-look scorebug and the heavy reliance on outside personalities that perhaps took away from the game.
A late-game interview featuring Giants backup quarterback Jameis Winston and a pair of WWE wrestlers completely overwhelmed the actual action on the field, which although the game was a blowout at the time, still represented the first game of the 2026 season after months of waiting.
