MLB Teams Collectively Generated $23.6M in Post Value During Spring Training
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Opening Day annually marks a milestone on the sporting calendar, signifying the transition from cold winter days to sun-soaked summer afternoons spent at the ballpark. It is a new beginning for MLB teams and players hoping to make an impact on the diamond and ultimately play meaningful games in October. But importantly, it is also a time when fan excitement begins to amplify social media activity that waned during the offseason. Higher engagements and impressions boost post values and deliver added exposure to club partners, which will for the first time this year include jersey patch sponsors. Ahead of the regular season’s first pitch, we used MVP’s omnichannel platform to examine team and league social metrics throughout Spring Training. Our analysis included content shared from the first day of exhibition games on February 24 through March 26 as well as the previous 31 days for comparison’s sake. We found Grapefruit and Cactus League action helped generate $23.6M worth of total post value from MLB’s 30 teams, with the most recognizable clubs leading the way.
Few franchises in all of sports have the aura, history, and polarizing effect of the New York Yankees. With their 27 World Series titles, the Bronx Bombers have both global support and a legion of baseball fans eager to see them fail. But regardless of their audience’s reason for watching and following the pinstriped nine, the Yankees command more attention than any other club. Across their owned social media accounts, the Yankees currently have 15.4 million followers, at least 61.2% more than their closest counterparts. And during this year’s Spring Training, such online reach helped the Yankees generate $2.95M worth of total post value, exceeding all other team totals by at least 75.6%. Finishing second in our Spring Training post value rankings were the reigning NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers, whose $1.68M in post value edged 2022 World Series champion Houston’s $1.63M in third. Notably, the Dodgers’ 4.52 million engagements during the period were tops among all clubs, as the Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies rounded out the top three totals with 3.71 million and 3.56 million, respectively.
From a broader perspective, the Spring Training social figures highlight a stark contrast between MLB’s most popular franchises and those with less relevance outside of their home markets.
The top ten teams in terms of post value include both New York clubs, all three franchises in Southern California, and five others with national – or international, in the case of the Toronto Blue Jays – appeal. This group accounted for 66.1% of all post value during the month we analyzed, suggesting partners can expect significantly more exposure from branded content featured on their channels.
By contrast, the bottom ten teams garnered a combined $2.51M in post value – roughly 10.6% of the collective total and less than the Yankees earned on their own.
While young prospects and aging veterans were fighting to make an Opening Day roster, dozens of baseball’s best players took a leave from their clubs’ camps in Florida and Arizona during March to compete in the fifth World Baseball Classic. The two-week tournament featuring 20 national teams took place for the first time since 2017, and it stirred emotion from baseball fans around the globe. Accordingly, Major League Baseball and its teams capitalized on the event by sharing social content promoting it and MLB players participating. League and team posts including “World Baseball Classic” or “#WorldBaseballClassic” during Spring Training were responsible for $7.56M worth of total post value. That figure represented 21.5% of the overall post value during the period despite WBC-related posts accounting for only 7.9% of the total content. World Baseball Classic posts also earned 24% of the total engagements and created 20% of the total impressions during Spring Training, suggesting baseball fans crave the excitement associated with tournament play.
The WBC’s intensity reached its peak when two of baseball’s most popular and talented players faced off in an epic ninth-inning showdown during the tournament’s championship game. In a plate appearance pitting Los Angeles Angels teammates against one another with the game hanging in the balance, Shohei Ohtani struck out Mike Trout to seal victory for Japan. But the moment made waves across social media and proved the marketing power shared by the pair. Their team made the most of the opportunity to promote them on social media, as the Angels used an MLB-leading engagement rate to generate $1.23M worth of total post value during Spring Training. The figure was a 3.12x increase from the previous month, catapulting Los Angeles from 15th in our post value rankings to eighth and demonstrating the allure of top players performing on a big stage.
While interest in MLB and its teams clearly spiked as Spring Training began, the means by which fans consumed baseball content maintained a status quo. By and large, MLB teams earn the majority of their engagements via Instagram. During the month preceding Spring Training, IG content led to 67.6% of all engagements, a figure that dipped only slightly to 64.7% once games began. However, Twitter is responsible for the most impressions and post value among the major social platforms. During Spring Training, 57.7% of MLB content was shared on the app, resulting in 48.1% of the total post value. Coincidentally, 48% of all impressions came from Twitter. Facebook content garnered 29.5% of the total post value during Spring Training after amassing 29.7% during the offseason’s final 31 days. Strikingly, there were no significant differences in post value, engagements, or impressions shares across platforms from one month to the next, implying consistent value generation opportunities across MLB social.
Opening Day is finally upon us, and with it comes an array of rules changes that will affect both the play and sponsorship potential on the field throughout the season. With the new ability to sell jersey patch sponsorships, teams will undoubtedly create new ways to showcase their partners across owned social media accounts this year. And as evidenced by teams increasing month-over-month total post value generation during Spring Training by 55.3%, they are sure to strive for larger totals and more exposure once consequential games commence. In the coming weeks, we will provide early-season social metrics comparisons while also exploring the impact of pitch clocks and shorter games on broadcast brand value. Stay connected with MVP for these insights and more from the diamond.
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