Jameis Winston goes down a storm in new job on MLB Opening Night as retirement plan becomes clear

Jameis Winston was clearly having a blast in his baseball broadcasting debut.

The 2026 MLB regular season kicked off on Wednesday, with the New York Yankees‘ 7-0 victory against the San Francisco Giants being broadcast on Netflix.

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It was Netflix’s first dabble into the world of baseball broadcasting, and the streamer’s star-studded lineup included former SportsCenter anchor Elle Duncan, MLB legend Barry Bonds, and Winston, who is still an active quarterback for the New York Giants.

Winston’s inclusion on the broadcast team was initially questioned but he is no stranger to the world of baseball.

He played college football at Florida State in part because he was also allowed to play on the baseball team.

Prior to the 2014 season, he was named a preseason All-American by Baseball America as a utility player.

The Opening Night broadcast has faced heavy criticism by fans, with some claiming the whole show felt like an advertisement for multiple Netflix shows.

But they did enjoy one aspect of the show, and that was Winston’s multiple side-quests and charismatic on-screen personality.

Across the game, Winston remained busy, serving as a member of the Giants’ ground-crew before the first pitch and throwing beers to fans in canoes.

He also spent some time with the Giants’ ball boy, sneaking into the Yankees’ clubhouse to interview players during the game.

Another viral moment saw Winston interviewing Giants CF Harrison Bader.

“Jameis Winston! I played against you at FSU. You pitched against me when I was a freshman,” Bader said.

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Fans were loving Winston’s sidegags, and were quick to express their praise on social media.

“Jameis always finding the wildest vibes, gotta catch that on Netflix for real, let’s go,” one fan commented.

“Jameis Winston on another wild side quest, legendary vibes,” a second said.

“Enourmous fan of this so far, Jameis is an amazing addition, he literally makes everything so much better,” a third added.

Winston pokes fun at college crab incident

But the consensus highlight of his night was his back-and-forth with Elle Duncan over his well-known crab-leg incident.

Netflix had placed Winston at the Crazy Crab, located on the concourse of Oracle Park, when Duncan asked him if he had paid for the crab-legs there.

“Well, Elle, I may or may not be plotting to get some fresh grab legs,” Winston replied.

“But a trusted source told me that ever since Barry Bonds retired from the San Francisco Giants, sales have skyrocketed due to the decrease of baseball-related crab deaths.

“My history with crab legs, ya’ll may know.”

Back in college, Winston had been accused of stealing $32 worth of crab legs and crawfish from a Publix in Florida.

Winston was issued with a civil citation over the incident, before later claiming he had been hooked up with the food for free by a store employee.

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