As Opening Day of the 2026 MLB season approaches, TikTok is on deck

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A major professional sports league is expanding its presence on social media.

This time, Major League Baseball is the organization in the short-form spotlight. With the Opening Day of the 2026 season a little more than a month away, the MLB has announced an expanded partnership with TikTok that will bring highlights, behind-the-scenes features, and creator-led baseball content to the For You Page.

Through what it calls an “expanded content partnership” with TikTok, the MLB will give fans new ways to follow America’s pastime. An MLB Hub will be stocked with highlight reels from each team’s busy, 162-game season, and brands will be able to advertise on that hub through a product suite called TikTok GamePlan. Even before Opening Day, this initiative is already up and running. During Spring Training in Arizona, a TikTok-branded lounge popped up at the MLB Player House.

For years, the MLB was better known for its powerful streaming technology than its own social media presence. But baseball has been a recurring topic on TikTok for years, with some ballclubs — like the New York Yankees

— partnering with the platform as early as 2020. Sluggers like Mookie Betts have launched digital channels, and creators like CouRage and Katie Feeney have been tapped for alternative broadcasts that look to turn younger generations into baseball diehards.

2026 is the perfect year for the MLB’s TikTok presence to get even bigger. Sports as varied as football, tennis, and cycling have become hot topics on social media, and college athletes have become top-tier creators thanks to NIL deals. (One of the biggest NIL stars, gymnast Livvy Dunne, happens to be dating Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes.)

The MLB has already ridden that wave through partnerships with creators like Jomboy. Now, as fans await the start of the preseason tournament known as the World Baseball Classic, the MLB is focusing on international growth. Thanks to stars like Shohei Ohtani (pictured above), the league’s localized accounts surged during last year’s World Series, with traffic increasing 5x year-over-year.

“The expansion of our TikTok partnership will showcase even more great baseball content to audiences of all ages on its popular platform,” said MLB EVP of Media & Business Development Kenny Gersh in a statement. “As a wide-reaching global platform, TikTok provides a valuable opportunity to further build the increasing worldwide excitement surrounding MLB and its diverse group of international superstars.”

The MLB is going to do whatever it can to get the game in front of a new generation of fans. Will attention-deficit TikTok types appreciate the methodical pace of a typical baseball game? That remains to be seen, but if they don’t take to it, it won’t be due to a lack of effort.