Netflix heard all the complaints piling up. When the Yankees and Giants opened the season, the fans were loud and clear that the score bug was too small to read. The Home Run Derby came and went with the same issue. By the time MLB returned to the Iowa cornfields for the Field of Dreams Game, fans were hoping Netflix had finally done something about it. They had, except…not quite what fans were expecting.

Netflix unveiled a dramatically larger scorebug for Thursday night’s game, going in a completely different direction after months of complaints about the tiny graphic. The new design took up a major chunk of the bottom-right corner of the screen. Awful Announcing captured the new look as Kyle Schwarber launched a leadoff home run during the Phillies’ 7-1 win over the Twins.

“Netflix heard the critics on the Opening Day scorebug… and decided to just make an absolutely enormous one,” wrote Awful Announcing on X. “Here’s how it looks as Kyle Schwarber hits a leadoff homer in the Field of Dreams Game.”

The new design was a far cry from the traditional scorebugs baseball fans are used to. Done up in a blue-and-red theme, everything on it was technically readable, but the word “Netflix” stretched in oversized font across the bases turned out to be its own kind of eyesore. And the timing could hardly have been worse.

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This was, after all, not an ordinary regular-season game. For the first time in four years, MLB returned to the Field of Dreams ballpark in Dyersville, Iowa, bringing the Twins and Phillies back to the site where the iconic 1989 movie was filmed. The night was designed to make baseball feel like a movie again.

Kevin Costner’s voice set the stage before first pitch, and 26 MLB Hall of Famers came out from the cornfields in a pregame celebration inspired by the film. Some among them were legends like Steve Carlton, Mike Schmidt, Joe Mauer and Jim Thome. Two members of the 2026 Hall of Fame class, Andruw Jones and Jeff Kent, also threw out ceremonial first pitches.

According to MLB.com, it was the most Hall of Famers to attend a Major League game since the 2008 All-Star Game.

With just 8,000 fans inside the ballpark, most of the viewers were relating on Netflix to bring that atmosphere of watching the game blissfully at home. But that hardly happened. Plus, Netflix was the primary broadcaster of MLB at Field of Dreams, making the presentation more important to them.

The streaming giant entered the occasion in its first season of MLB coverage after signing a three-year media rights deal with Major League Baseball in November last year. The agreement runs through 2028 and is approximately worth $50 million annually, marking a major transition from the era of FOX, TBS and ESPN. That being said, the fans have always met this partnership with scepticism.

They were always worried that the streaming platform would hamper their gameday experience. The scoreboard became one of the most obvious examples. Meanwhile, this isn’t the first time that the broadcaster was met with such scepticism. During the Christmas Day coverage of the Washington Commanders vs Dallas Cowboys, fans complained about problems accessing the website.

Meanwhile, the Field of Dreams Game itself was also a chance for MLB to revive a tradition that had been rather dormant since 2022. The league inaugurated the event on August 12, 2021, when the Chicago White Sox beat the New York Yankees 9-8 on Tim Anderson’s home run. FOX was the official broadcaster at the time. They even had a special corn-themed scorebug to fit the occasion.

This year the players leaned into that nostalgia. The Twins and Phillies wore special retro uniforms, and Harper even had the custom yellow-and-green cleats, a yellow arm sleeve, and a corn-inspired bat featuring kernels, melted butter, and his initials. Meanwhile, the game itself had its own fireworks.

After consecutive disappointing performances from the Phillies hitters, Thursday was a relief. While Aaron Nola and the bullpen kept the Twins limited to a single run, Schwarber set off the fireworks early. After his leadoff solo shot, Schwarber homered again, adding two more runs and extending the Phillies’ lead to 4-2. Bryce Harper and Bryson Stott both drove in RBI singles, while Brandon Marsh launched a two-run homer to lock the score at 7-1.

It was an entertaining night, but the fans can’t stop being irritated with the scorebug. With the Netflix scorebug being a disappointment every time, fans expressed their frustration with the streaming giant.

Fans React to Giant Netflix Scorebug at Field of Dreams

One fan on X echoed what many baseball fans are thinking at this point: “Netflix ruined everything.” Another called the bug not even fit for a midweek college football match of the Mid-American Conference. He wrote, “This bug isn’t even good enough for Wednesday night MACtion.”

One user took a jab at the graphics team, saying, “Genuinely hideous scorebug. Looks like they got it from a graphics package from like 2007.”

“Wish they’d stop giving Netflix games…. Seriously. Leave it to the professionals,” remarked another. However, much to this fan’s disappointment, Netflix is not going anywhere till 2028.

“And they still don’t have anything for ABS,” commented another.

Fans had multiple problems with Netflix’s broadcast during its first two streaming attempts. Perhaps not liking the scorebug is the least serious allegation. During HR Derby and Opening Night, fans have also complained about buffering, picture quality, and missing crucial moments.

The broadcaster failed to display the moment the game’s first-ever ABS challenge was issued. While it was happening, the camera was turned towards the dugout and missed capturing the moment.

However, not everyone seemed to be as frustrated. Some were just happy to read the scores. After the small fonts that put strain on our eyes during the Netflix Opening Day broadcast, it was a relief on Thursday.

One fan wrote, “Credit where it’s due but it still looks goofy with every bit of the typeface being bolded.”

Netflix won’t get another shot at the scorebug until Opening Night 2027, scheduled for March 24, giving the streamer more than seven months to figure out a design that finally sticks.