Netflix labeled Jordan Walker ‘Home Run Derby Champion’ before he won

Nobody really expected Jordan Walker to win the 2026 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby, except for maybe Netflix.

Walker wasn’t expected to come out on top when he entered the Derby with the third-longest odds to win, and he certainly wasn’t expected to win after Kyle Schwarber set the pace with 11 homers in the finals at his home Citizens Bank Ballpark in Philadelphia. But Netflix may have dropped a little Easter Egg during the broadcast, when they briefly displayed a graphic declaring Walker the “2026 T-Mobile Home Run Derby Champion” after the middle round of the event.

Script leak? pic.twitter.com/ZkEDWkLAOE

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) July 14, 2026

Alert the tinfoil hats. Netflix may have done what Jeff Passan didn’t think they could do by fixing the format, but did they also fix the Derby?

Surely, this was just an error. The graphic flashed by mistake and was no real forecast of what was to come. But against all odds, Walker did end up becoming the 2026 T-Mobile Home Run Derby Champion, just as Netflix had already sort of told everyone he would. And the way he got there was pretty incredible.

In the new format that eliminated the swing clock, each participant was allotted 15 swings in the finals. Hometown hero Kyle Schwarber all but cemented the win by hitting homers in 11 of those 15 swings. And Walker’s chances seemed even less likely when he was down to one swing left and still needed six more home runs to win. Amazingly, however, the St. Louis Cardinals outfielder stunned the Philadelphia crowd by hitting those six homers to win the Derby, just as Netflix had earlier depicted he would.