Welcome back, baseball. We missed you.
Encapsulating the excitement of Major League Baseball’s opening day, legendary player Pete Rose once said, “It’s like Christmas, except it’s warmer.” More recently, a petition to the White House to make opening day a national holiday garnered nearly 110,000 digital signatures.
As teams embark upon their rigorous 162-game schedules on Monday, fans of the game know that it can be a full-time job trying to keep up with the latest news. To help you take it all in, we put together a list of 10 Twitter accounts to follow to give you a solid overview of what’s going on in the game.
1) Major League Baseball (@MLB)
No points for obscurity here, but MLB does an excellent job with its Twitter account. It shares custom graphics, recaps statistical highlights, and retweets teams and players when they share something interesting. As a bonus, follow @MLBStatoftheDay for more juicy tidbits.
#OpeningDay matchups set. Aces wild. Are you ready? pic.twitter.com/8kRG5A1qIs
— MLB (@MLB) March 30, 2014
2) Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN)
ESPN’s Buster Olney covers every single team, and he does it well. He’ll deliver inside information on a daily basis.
Best way to describe situation with Clayton Kershaw: Uncertain. Has the same type of injury as Jurickson Profar. Return date is unknown.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) March 31, 2014
3) FanGraphs (@fangraphs)
Baseball has been tallying the same statistical categories for more than a century, but in recent decades, a nerdy subsection of baseball fans has come up with more complex and insightful metrics to track players’ impact on the game. FanGraphs is the place to go to nerd out on baseball.
FanGraphs: Miguel Cabrera’s Ridiculous Plate Coverage https://t.co/gnDSCoWtjX
— FanGraphs Baseball (@fangraphs) May 24, 2013
4) New York Mets (@Mets) and 5) Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers)
Of course you’re following your favorite team, but you might want to check out the Mets’ and Dodgers’ accounts too. These are two of the three professional sports teams selected as finalists for social media’s best sports team, according to the Shorty Awards.
Great start! Today we look to improve on our MLB record .654 #OpeningDay winning %. We are 34-18. #MetsOpeningDay
— New York Mets (@Mets) March 31, 2014
That will do it for @HyunJinRyu99 — 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 7 SO. #Dodgers pic.twitter.com/qQd1tnC8Xb
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 31, 2014
6) Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale)
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale is another reporter that does a great job with across-the-board coverage of the league.
Predictions: #Rangers over #STLCards in World Series. MVP: Albert Pujols and Ryan Braun Cy Young: Yu Darvishand Adam Warinwright
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) March 31, 2014
7) Rotoworld (@Rotoworld_BB)
This one is for the fantasy baseball players. Rotoworld isn’t going to give you slick-looking tweets or witty analysis, but it will provide straight headlines that will help you manage your fantasy roster.
Billy Hamilton batting leadoff in Reds opener – Billy Hamilton | CIN https://t.co/UP382LRr5z
— Rotoworld Baseball (@Rotoworld_BB) March 31, 2014
8) Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner)
Look to New York Times national baseball reporter Tyler Kepner for more solid coverage of all 30 teams.
Closing the Book on a Bullpen Myth https://t.co/Tgq5EEro5B (aka: teams starting to realize that almost any good pitcher can be a good closer)
— Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) March 30, 2014
9) MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors)
Despite its name, this account does not limit itself to just trade rumors. Follow it for up-to-the-minute roster moves.
AL East Notes: Lester, Victorino, Rays, Robertson https://t.co/G2MFHSO6J7 #mlb
— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) March 31, 2014
10) Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal)
Follow Fox’s Ken Rosenthal for national baseball coverage from an all-star reporter.
Happy New Year to all…
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) March 31, 2014
11) Old Hoss Radbourn (@OldHossRadbourn)
You won’t get news or analysis from Old Hoss, but it is probably the best baseball parody account. If you’re not a baseball history ace, give Charles Gardner Radbourn’s Wikipedia page a quick read so you’ll get these jokes.
“This is literally a pitcher’s duel!” the announcer unwisely intoned, as the man on the mound gasped in terror.
— Old Hoss Radbourn (@OldHossRadbourn) March 31, 2014
Photo by A Healthier Michigan/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)