There was a time when being a baseball fan meant waiting. Waiting for the morning paper, waiting for the postgame show, waiting for someone else to tell you who won. Today, there is no more waiting. All of this can be found instantly at our fingertips. 

With the rise of social media, fandom is now 24/7 online. This is true for all sports, but baseball’s online community has developed its own culture. Built on long seasons, inside jokes, and collective memory, it often feels more communal than its counterparts.

Staying up to date and connecting with players

Every play of a game is unfolding simultaneously in timelines, group chats, and comment sections. Fans now experience baseball collectively in real time, reacting to every pitch with strangers across the world. Baseball has a long season of 162 games, and things change almost daily. Social media makes it so that a fan can miss nine innings and still stay up to speed through highlights, memes, and discussions. Fandom has transformed from watching games to participating in an ongoing digital conversation. 

Social media has also closed the gap between fans and their favorite players. Players who have their own social media accounts can use them as a tool to develop their own personal brand and connect more with fans. This has humanized athletes and strengthened connections. By giving players control over their own voices, social media has reframed how fans relate to them. Players can express humor, frustration, and vulnerability that help present themselves as people first and athletes second. For fans, this visibility reshapes expectations. Slumps become more understandable, criticism more complicated, and support more personal. The relationship shifts from hero worship to connection, built not on perfection but on relatability.

However, social media has also opened the door for nonstop scrutiny online. A single viral moment on or off the field can redefine a player’s public image overnight. But I believe the positivity outweighs the negativity. Players have the opportunity to reply to fans and see all of their support. A player acknowledging a fan’s post or comment can resonate more deeply than a single on-field achievement. These moments create intimacy and positive relationships between the player and the fan. I personally have gotten recognized online by a few of my favorite players before, and I can confirm the acknowledgement for my unwavering support means the world to me,  and makes me want to continue supporting even more. Fans are not just consumers of performance, but contributors to a shared culture that players recognize and respect.

Building Community

Social media has also given baseball fans a genuine community that connects fans who might never have crossed paths otherwise. Fans often begin connecting over their shared passion for their favorite team or the sport. Over time, these digital interactions create real bonds, grounded in shared loyalty and long seasons spent experiencing the same highs and lows. These spaces become places of belonging and where many true friendships begin. 

In my personal experience, I have met some of the greatest people I know because of baseball that I would’ve never met if I weren’t active in the online baseball community. It can be difficult to find other female fans who love baseball just as much as I do, and the online baseball community has allowed me to do so. I have also built a close-knit community of baseball fans just through posting content relating to my favorite team on TikTok, where I have received messages from some fans saying that I was the one who got them into the game. Knowing that I could be the reason for someone falling in love with the game just by sharing my own passion for it is incredibly special. It is important to me that I leave a positive impact on others, and being part of this community has shown me how powerful that impact can be. Baseball, through social media, becomes less about following a team alone and more about being part of something together.

Social media has not changed what it means to love baseball, but it has changed how that love is expressed and shared, and has brought so many people together in the process.