{"id":9479,"date":"2026-10-28T05:52:37","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T05:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=9479"},"modified":"2026-10-28T05:52:37","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T05:52:37","slug":"major-league-baseball-fandom-social-media-world-series-influencers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=9479","title":{"rendered":"Major League Baseball is looking for a new kind of fan"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n

On October 2nd, just as Major League Baseball\u2019s Division Series was kicking off, the main MLB Instagram<\/a> and TikTok<\/a> accounts posted a video hyping up the teams still in the running for the World Series. It featured clips of players from the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox, and more sliding into home plate, hitting homers, and celebrating hits \u2014 standard fare for a highlight reel. What really makes the montage, though, is that it\u2019s set to an Olivia Rodrigo song.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The song, \u201cMy Way,\u201d is an album track \u2014 not even a single \u2014 from Rodrigo\u2019s latest record. It\u2019s not exactly the soundtrack one might expect from an MLB-produced video. (\u201cAnd here is the part where the girl gets pissed \/ And the girl is me, did you get that hint?\u201d she sings.) But as evidenced by the comments, it hit exactly the right people: \u201cI see I\u2019m part of a very niche part of MLB fans,\u201d one person said. \u201cTarget audience reached,\u201d another responded. The clip has over 2.1 million views on Instagram and 615,000 views on TikTok.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cOne of our favorite things is when a community says, \u2018Oh, MLB knows ball,\u2019 or, \u2018Oh, I can\u2019t believe my interests [are] converging,\u2019\u201d says Cameron Gidari, MLB\u2019s vice president of social media and innovation. The social team is a fan of Rodrigo\u2019s to begin with and loves the song, Gidari says, \u201cbut then also we thought we could make a really interesting edit with it, and we thought that community would appreciate being seen.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Acknowledging the combination of baseball\u2013Olivia Rodrigo fans is smart. It also might be essential for the survival of the sport. People love baseball, of course, but it often feels like it\u2019s trailing other sports, not just in viewership<\/a> but also culturally. Baseball is famously stats heavy \u2014 there are thousands of games every season across the league, and teams play almost every day. What happens on the field today is often contextualized through what happened in games in the past, making it hard to jump in without a history of watching (or learning about) the sport. Go back a few years, and you\u2019d find MLB social channels were more \u201ceditorially focused,\u201d Gidari says, focusing on facts of the game or highlights. Speaking to fans who have other interests \u2014 or who are simply more casual \u2014 has been a deliberate choice, he says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cOur tone overall on social is the tone of fandom,\u201d Gidari says. \u201cWe think there is something really inviting and magnetic about that, and it was a conscious shift.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Here\u2019s<\/a> a post of Dua Lipa and Callum Turner at a Yankees game, the night the team was eliminated from the postseason. Here\u2019s<\/a> an edit spliced together with shots of athletes looking shocked and in awe, as if they were reacting to a song by the K-pop group Stray Kids. Here\u2019s<\/a> a highlight reel of White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami being funny.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The nature of social media algorithms all but requires MLB to branch out. Recommendation-based social feeds mean that following an account doesn\u2019t necessarily mean followers will see the content \u2014 feeds have become reorganized into content niches, topics, and trends, and Gidari says \u201creally aggressive algorithm changes\u201d meant the league had to rethink what it posts. Content from the MLB in English- and Spanish-language social accounts racked up 19.1 billion views during the 2026 regular season, Gidari says, a record.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

A significant part of that shift has been MLB\u2019s embrace of influencers and content creators. So far this year, the league has tapped 400 creators who posted a combined 3,800 pieces of content, and in the postseason, MLB has had content creators at every single game. The league expects to have 100 content creators at the World Series, depending on how many games it runs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The openness and collaboration with content creators is relatively new for MLB. As recently as 2024, content creators (including Jimmy \u201cJomboy\u201d O\u2019Brien<\/a>, who does viral lip-reading breakdowns) complained<\/a> of getting wide-ranging copyright takedowns on their content. In 2025, Commissioner Rob Manfred acknowledged<\/a> the league fumbled this slice of the fanbase and that changing its tune had been \u201ca really good thing\u201d for MLB. (The league even acquired a stake<\/a> in O\u2019Brien\u2019s media company last year.) More recently, a TikTok partnership gave select creators access to the league\u2019s archives<\/a> to use in their content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

For the first time, MLB has expanded beyond having influencers only at big events. The league now brings content creators to regular season games, too, and has broadened its reach to include more than just baseball and sports creators. Rachel Richter, director of influencer strategy, says MLB works with food, fashion, lifestyle, gaming, and family influencers, too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cThere are casual fans or [people] that aren\u2019t even fans yet, that maybe they\u2019re going to go to a game just because they get to put on a cute outfit, or they want to try this new food item,\u201d Richter says. The idea is to get those creators to a game and let them incorporate baseball into their usual content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The league is building on momentum, especially coming off a successful season<\/a> last year: Game 7 of the 2025 World Series between the Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays was the most-watched World Series game since 2017, and more international viewers watched last year\u2019s matchup than ever before. But as other sports have found, it can be a learning curve to balance longtime fans and the culture of the sport with an insurgent, at times unpredictable, class of promotional power brokers: The biggest story out of this year\u2019s US Open, for example, was not the tennis itself but the many complaints and debates about the influencers who attended<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

MLB is working to expand what constitutes a fan, reaching into corners of the internet and culture that previously were ignored or, at the very least, untapped. At the same time, it\u2019s hurtling toward an uncertain 2027 season as the collective bargaining agreement between team owners and the MLB Players Association is set to expire in December. If the union and owners don\u2019t reach a deal in time, players likely would be locked out<\/a>, and the 2027 season could be shortened. Messaging that conflict would be a challenge in itself for the league \u2014 especially after adopting the voice of new, casual, and eager fans who are looking for a reason to tune in.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Correction, October 27th:<\/em><\/strong> Corrected a misspelling of Gidari\u2019s name.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Follow topics and authors<\/strong> from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.<\/span><\/p>\n