Whether it's because of X owner Elon Musk's close ties with the Trump administration, Musk's alleged racism, X's algorithm manipulation, the proliferation of X advertisers and bots, X's suppression of links to outside sources, or other concerns, many social media enthusiasts have made the switch to rival platform Bluesky.
Bluesky's look and feel closely mirror X (sans the aforementioned advertising, bots, and manipulation), making it an appealing alternative to Musk's venture. Users can create custom feeds for topics such as "Phillies" or "Yankees" to enjoy baseball content without being bombarded with info about, say, "Doge" or Musk employee "big balls."
Since the November 2024 U.S. elections, Bluesky has nearly tripled in size and boasts over 30 million users. But many who made the leap lament the loss of Major League Baseball content that they enjoyed on X.
I'm ready to add more #sports to my feed here .. let's all poke our favorite teams and clubs on other social media sites and push for them to join BlueSky #NFL #MLB #NBA #NHL #EPL #WNBA #CFB #CBB
— 4kh2o (@4kh2o.bsky.social) November 14, 2024 at 7:43 AM
The National Football League has barred its teams from posting on Bluesky, due to certain contractual concerns. (A group of fans reportedly filed a lawsuit over the NFL's decision.)
But MLB teams seem to face no such restriction from their league. 28 of 30 pro baseball clubs have a Bluesky account, and five (the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox, and Kansas City Royals) actively post on the platform.
Major League Baseball created a league account on Bluesky at @mlb.com, but has yet to post.
Two teams--the Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs--have not even created a placeholder account.
When will the Cubs’ BlueSky official account be created? 🙄
— Mike 🇯🇵 (@firefox76.bsky.social) January 24, 2025 at 8:49 AM
It will be interesting to see how many clubs start regularly producing content as spring training activity kicks off. Once a team account is created on Bluesky, it is not a heavy lift to duplicate content across platforms.
The teams' decisions may play an important role in Bluesky's success as an X alternative, at least among baseball fans.
Here's the handle and status of each MLB team's Bluesky account as of February 12, 2025:
NL EAST
Phillies - @phillies.com, no posts
Braves - @braves.com, no posts
Mets - @mets.com, active
Nationals - @nationals.com, no posts
Marlins - @marlins.com, no posts
NL CENTRAL
Brewers - @brewers.com, no posts
Cardinals - @cardinals.com, no posts
Cubs - N/A
Reds - @reds.com, active
Pirates - @pirates.com, active
NL WEST
Dodgers - @dodgers.com, no posts
Padres - @padres.com, no posts
Diamondbacks - @dbacks.com, no posts
Giants - @sfgiants.com, no posts
Rockies - @rockies.com, no posts
AL EAST
Yankees - @yankees.com, no posts
Orioles - @orioles.com, no posts
Red Sox - @redsox.com, active
Rays - @raysbaseball.com, no posts
Blue Jays - @bluejays.com, no posts
AL CENTRAL
Guardians - @cleguardians.com, no posts
Royals - @royals.com, active
Tigers - @tigers.com, no posts
Twins - @twins.com, no posts
White Sox - @whitesox.com, no posts
AL WEST
Astros - N/A
Mariners - @mariners.com, no posts
Rangers - @rangers.com, no posts
Athletics - @athletics.com, no posts
Angels - @angels.com, no posts
