Spring training wasn’t a disaster for the New York Yankees given none of their star players got hurt. But there were moments that nightmares are made of.
In late February, a huge sewage leak spewed into the clubhouse at the Yankees’ base in Tampa, Florida and caused chaos, stinking out most of George M. Steinbrenner Field where they play their practice games.
‘It’s all over the place,’ a grim-faced Yankees manager Aaron Boone said at the time. ‘It’s not great.’
Around that same time, slugger Giancarlo Stanton revealed the tennis elbow issues that saw him miss 70 games last year have gotten so bad, he can’t open a bottle of water or even a bag of chips. He insists, however, it’s different holding a bat and that he is in contention to play most of the 162 games of the marathon regular season.
Then, young pitcher Cam Schlittler made a grim discovery in his locker one morning, finding a spider at home in there. An arachnophobe, a terrified Schlittler called security to come and get rid of it, saying the critters give him ‘an ick’.
But finally, under the bright lights of Oracle Park in San Francisco on Wednesday night, the serious business begins as America’s pastime resumes with the Yankees facing the Giants, live on Netflix for the first time.
Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees kick the 2026 season off on Wednesday night
Highly-rated Cam Schlittler had an incident with a spider in his locker during spring training
Star Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stantion is fighting a debilitating case of tennis elbow
For baseball’s most successful team, World Series glory is the only acceptable ending this year. But for the organization that forged its reputation around the world by making winning look so easy, ending 2026 as champions is harder than ever thanks to the team six hours south of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, back-to-back World Series champions, enter as overwhelming favorites with Kyle Tucker added to their ranks and Shohei Ohtani another year on from his second Tommy John surgery.
‘The Dodgers are a juggernaut,’ Lauren Shehadi, Netflix’s on-field reporter for opening night, told Daily Mail. ‘But games aren’t played on paper.’
The Yankees enjoyed the last of their 27 World Series wins in 2009. With each year that passes, the pressure on the shoulders of their all-time great, Aaron Judge, increases.
Judge turns 34 next month and his prime years are in their twilight. He kicks off 2026 against not only his hometown team, but also as a beaten Team USA captain in the World Baseball Classic, losing to Venezuela earlier this month.
Judge, who has out-hit the legendary Babe Ruth in Yankees pinstripes, wilted in that final, striking out three times. His bat going cold in big games is unfortunate, but it’s a trend he is getting a reputation for after something similar happened in the last two postseasons for the Yankees.
Those close to the Yankees camp, however, insist that Judge now has a score to settle. And that might make him more dangerous than ever before.
‘He’s the king of New York, the best hitter in the game and he wants to win more than anything in the world,’ Shehadi said of the Yankees captain. ‘Aaron Judge is everything good about the game.
Netflix reporter Lauren Shehadi says the ‘juggernaut’ LA Dodgers look the team to beat
But she backed Aaron Judge to hit back after Team USA lost the WBC final earlier this month
‘He’s the ultimate competitor. One pitch goes differently in the WBC game and Team USA wins. Of course that’s going to bother him but now, he’s focused on the Yankees.’
He has rejoined a roster that is an extremely familiar one – too familiar, if you ask much of the diehard Yankee fanbase. Boone is running it back in 2026 with the same roster as last year – albeit with star pitcher Gerrit Cole anticipated to return from dreaded Tommy John surgery midway through the season.
It is Cole, the ace in the pack, that has given those at the top of Yankees HQ reason to believe that things could be different this time around. So too has been the emergence of Schlittler in the backend of 2025 in Cole’s absence – spiders depending, of course.
‘I was at spring training in Tampa with the Yankees and I spoke with Aaron Boone. He is not worried about going into the season of 162 games with a group that won 94 a year ago,’ Shehadi added.
‘They have much more pitching depth this year than last year with Gerrit Cole coming back, and Cam Schlittler. Cam is one of the brightest young up and coming stars in the game.’
But even Judge wasn’t best pleased, at times, with the Yankees sitting quiet in the market during the winter.
‘Early on it was pretty tough to watch,’ Judge admitted in February. ‘I’m like, “Man, we’re the New York Yankees. Let’s go out there and get the right people”. Let’s sign these guys, right now, and start adding more pieces because I’m seeing other teams around the league get better.
The Yankees face a formidable task in trying to topple the imperious Dodgers this season
Judge and his team take the first step on Netflix Wednesday night, vs San Francisco Giants
‘They’re making trades, signing big prospects or big players. We’re sitting there for a while kind of making smaller moves.’
The move to bring $162million man Cody Bellinger back was a big one for the Yankees, though. Crosstown rivals New York Mets were lingering, weighing up an offer if he didn’t strike a deal to stay in the Bronx.
Bellinger and Judge are close behind-the-scenes, with Judge pushing the front office to recruit Bellinger from the Chicago Cubs last year. The pair forged a good outfield partnership with center fielder Trent Grisham, who returns on a $22m contract this season after smashing 34 home runs in 2025.
It’s perhaps Grisham that symbolizes this team the most going into the new season. Some felt it was a no-brainer to bring him back; others think he peaked in 2025 and won’t be able to reach that level again.
But if these players find a new gear, resurrect this stumbling giant of American sports and topple the Dodgers, it’s a tale that will be enshrined in the history books of baseball forever.
The first step is Wednesday night.
Netflix will stream San Francisco Giants vs New York Yankees on Wednesday night, with coverage starting at 4pm ET. Netflix is also the home of the Home Run Derby (7/13) and the MLB Field of Dreams Game (8/13)
