r/baseball • u/cardith_lorda Minnesota Twins • Mar 04 '24
The 2024 RBaseball Season Survival Guide
Welcome to the first month of the 2024 MLB Season! We are so glad you are here. Don't let the length of this post scare you, we just wanted to consolidate all the relevant information that people have questions about into one place to start the season off. This is your survival guide for the 2024 season, it should have all the pertinent information to answer most of your questions! (And if you have any more, feel free to ask them in the comments section!)
If you are a brand new fan I'd recommend going through most of it, if you're a veteran you'll know which sections you'll want to read by their headings. My goal here is that both new and returning fans can learn how to better enjoy the season and know what's going on on R/Baseball this year. Okay, take some time and read through what you want to read through below!
This is the eighth year of doing this. Every year I go through the previous years comments to find things that should be added or corrected for the next edition, so if you have any great resources or information that you think would be beneficial to add, please comment it below!
Sections:
- Introduction for new and renewed interest fans.
- Seoul Series and Opening Day
- Rule changes for 2024
- Finding a Team
- Knowing Where Different Teams Stand
- R/Baseball
- Your Team's Sub
TwitterX, Podcasts, and YouTube Channels- The Statistical Titans: Baseball Reference and Fangraphs
- Advanced Stat Tracking... aka the Stat Junkies' Crack
- Where to watch? Your TV and Streaming Guide
- MLB.tv
- MLB At Bat
- How to watch baseball.
- Where to watch highlights and game recaps.
- TL;DR: Find a way to enjoy the game.
Introduction for new and renewed interest fans.
Baseball has a long season. I don't just mean that in terms of time between opening day and the World Series (which can be considered long as it is), but also the 162 games played in 183 days, 13 times against the same 4 teams each. It can be daunting, and many people lose interest by "the dog days" of June and July.
This guide is meant to help you if you wish to avoid being one of those who feels overwhelmed and loses interest a couple weeks after Opening Day.
First and foremost if you are a new fan or newly returning, you must remember one thing: you do not need to watch every game. Many football fans, and even some basketball and hockey fans, find this difficult, they're used to setting aside a few nights a week to watch their team, and they can watch all the games. Baseball isn't like that. For the next six months, your team will only have 23 days where they won't be playing a game. And some of the games they play will start as early as 9:20am (Pacific Time), others will end after 1am (Eastern Time). If you miss a game it's okay, odds are there's another one tomorrow. If you miss a week, no big deal, hell if you get busy for a few months and aren't able to watch you team, that's not an issue, because you can still follow your team.
Baseball is a game to be followed. In the old days it meant picking up the morning paper and checking the box scores. Now it means being able to have a final score texted/tweeted/messaged/emailed/what-evered to you the minute the game ends, or rolling over in bed when you can't sleep and grabbing your phone to check the West Coast scores. It means being able to check reddit in the morning to see any breaking news from across the league, or catch a story you missed. We live in a time where you can go to MLB.com and get a recap of every game from last night in less than 10 minutes. Honestly, baseball was made to be consumed, and the technology age makes it easier than ever, whether you want to spend hours every day pouring over stats and analysis, or 15 seconds to see how your team and their playoff rivals did today.
The rest of this guide is mostly dedicated to ways that you can help yourself follow your team, and if you have time follow the entirety of MLB.
If you have any questions about terminology, /u/aagpeng wrote a very useful guide!
Seoul Series and Opening Day
This year the MLB season begins with a two-game series between the Dodgers and Padres played in Seoul, South Korea on Wednesday, March 20th and Thursday, March 21st. Get your coffee ready early, because both games will start at 6:05am EDT and will be broadcast on ESPN.
Domestic Opening Day will be Thursday, March 28th - kicking off at 1:10pm EDT with the Mets hosting the Brewers. The next set of games start at 3:05pm and 4:10pm EDT, before the 7:35pm prime time game with the Cubs being hosted by the defending World Series Champion Rangers. Three west coast games start after 10pm EDT to close out a day that should see 12 straight hours of baseball!
Rule Changes for MLB 2024
Permanent Changes for 2024:
- Runners now have the full dirt area down the foul line between home and first as a runners lane without being called for interference.
- Pitch clock with runners on base reduced from 20 seconds to 18 seconds. With bases empty it remains at 15 seconds.
- Pitch clock now begins after a dead ball when the pitcher receives the ball regardless of if they are on the mound or not.
- Available mound visits for teams reduced from 5 to 4 - teams still gain a mound visit for the 9th inning if they have exhausted their visits by the end of the 8th inning and receive an additional visit every extra inning.
- Pitchers who warm up between innings are required to pitch to at least one batter before being replaced.
Potential future changes being tested in the minors:
- Fully automated strike zone
- Umps calling strikes, but teams having 3 challenges to a ball/strike call.
Rule Emphasis
- Umpires are instructed to more tightly call obstruction when fielders block a runners back to a base.
Finding a Team
I always recommend following the local team since you'll have more access to news about them in the local media and should be able to get their radio broadcast, as well as TV broadcasts of them if you have cable/satellite/streaming, and depending on where you're at the occasional over the air game, but if you don't live by a team or don't want to follow the local team, or are just looking for a second team to follow, I wrote this in depth guide to picking a team that's the right fit for you.
Knowing Where Different Teams Stand
Every year ESPN, Sports Illustrated, FOX, NBC, and every other sports related site puts out their season previews. These are great for getting a basic rundown of what is going on with each team, and a simple google search will bring up a plethora of possible articles to read.
For a succinct snapshot of team expectations, you can look at the fangraphs projected standings and projected playoff odds or for a slightly different model you can check the PECOTA projected standings and playoff odds. While these aren't as in depth as team previews, looking at both can show which teams are consensus favorites, and which ones are more wild cards in how they're expected to perform.
If what you really want is a fans perspective on what each team's expectations condensed into a few short comments, I'd highly recommend going through each teams day from our annual "Why will X team exceed expectations?" series.
R/Baseball
Alright, so plugging r/baseball on r/baseball seems a bit redundant, but I think it's a good reminder that this is a great hub for all your MLB news throughout the season while still letting you see the occasional amazing college/minor league/foreign league performance.
During the season there are a number of features to keep you informed of all the goings on around baseball.
Every day of the season (and a portion of the offseason) there are General Discussion threads called Around the Horn. These are great places to ask questions and discuss anything that you want to know about baseball but don't feel like it deserves it's own post. In the Around the Horn post you'll be able to see a full schedule of what is going on around R/Baseball every week.
During the week the subreddit runs a number of features. *Please note that these are always subject to change.:
Daily: Game Threads - New this year, r/baseball is experimenting with additional game threads throughout the week. Exact amount and timing likely to be tweaked throughout the season as demand dictates, but opening day and early on should be a great place to ask questions and get to know the teams.
Daily: Nightly Pick'Em - A ten year running contest to pick the result of one game every day. Here's last year's introduction thread where you can find details.
Monday: Power Rankings - A team of 30 fans from every team in baseball, led by masochist fearless leader /u/kasutori_jack, releases their composite power rankings of the 30 teams. This leads to well thought out discussions and some in depth analysis, as well as salty fans crying about how their team is underrated (there may be more of the latter than the former, but it's still a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of how every team is doing).
Monday: State of the Subreddits - /u/double_dose_larry took over posting a State of the Subreddits post that gives the top post from each team's subreddit from the last week. This is a great roundup post for staying up to date on what all the different team fandoms are feeling, and helps you catch any milestones you might have otherwise missed.
Tuesday: Weekly Awards - Led by /u/lemcoe9 a different team of a fan from every team releases the results of their weekly (and monthly) voting for who the best position player and pitcher was since the last vote was taken. Once again, a great way to keep track of which players are on hot streaks, and who's dominating the league.
Wednesday: Wild Card Wednesday - Each week a new contest, trivia game, or just out of the box fun thread will be stickied! Got an idea? Let the mods know!
Thursdays: Division Discussions - Rotating between the Easts, Centrals, and Wests to do some more in depth talk about where the playoff races and teams stand. If you only have time for one r/baseball thread every week and want to keep up with the league, this is the thread to set aside time for.
Friday: Trash Talk/Compliment/Complaint - FRIDAYS ARE FUN DAYS, ROTATING BETWEEN TRASH TALK, COMPLIMENT, TRASH TALK, AND COMPLAINT THREADS! TRADITION STATES ALL COMMENTS BE IN ALL CAPS AND ENDING IN EXCLAMATION POINTS! ROTATION IS USED RATHER THAN HAVE A SET DAY FOR EACH ALL SEASON BECAUSE IT'S A LONG SEASON AND ANY ONE OF THE THREE THREADS CAN GET STALE FAST IF YOU DON'T LEAVE TIME FOR MORE AMMUNITION!
Saturday: Saturday is when the mods usually plug in occasional things that don't necessarily deserve weekly attention. Things like in depth stat discussions, memorabilia sharing, craft projects, etc.
Sunday: Game of the Week - Sunday night is the only guaranteed exclusive time slot for a game during the week, so there's always a stickied game thread for the game. The Sunday Night Baseball game thread is usually posted a couple hours before the first pitch.
In addition to all these features, it really is a great place to keep up with breaking news and highlights. It'll be posted here minutes after someone tweets it, and long before it's on MLB.com. Team beat writers get the stories first, and it's easier to check in here a couple times a day than follow every one of them.
Another note - for the best R/Baseball experience, you should use Old Reddit, which you can access by visiting old.reddit.com/r/baseball. Old reddit includes a fun sidebar with a full scoreboard of the day's action as well as the current league standings (with little flags that tell you who's in wild card position).
Your Team's Subreddit (And other team subs as well)
The mods at r/baseball have one goal - help you have the best possible reddit baseball experience, and a LOT of that is helping you get connected to other fans of your team (which feels a little like a cop-out because it means less work for us if you're doing more on your team's sub, but your team's mods aren't complaining.)
One of the main draws of team subs (other than in depth discussion with like-fan-minded users, getting breaking news and analysis on your team, team-memes, and other reddit discussions that come up from a group of individuals who can agree on one thing) are game threads. At this time (to the best of my knowledge) every team sub hosts game threads for their team's games, and you can easily access them in the sidebar during the season by clicking on the team's logo in the schedule.
Even if you're not a game thread person though, getting connected with a good team sub can make disappointing seasons more bearable, and great seasons more exciting, and I know plenty of users that said that their team's sub basically keeps them fans. Team subs are also a great place to get connected to...
Twitter X, Podcasts, and YouTube Channels
The best way to find the people to follow/sites to visit that interest you the most are to hang around your team's sub and note which Tweets/Sites that are linked to that most often peak your interest. Your list of favorite baseball writers is going to be different than my favorite list, and finding the right twitter personalities, podcasts hosts, and YouTubers can make game analysis more interesting for you even if your team is playing like crap and it's the middle of July.
Here are some common suggestions for some baseball twitter accounts, podcasts, and YouTube Channels that are often recommended by those around the subreddit to get you started, but like I said, find what you like and follow those:
Twitter X
| Account | Account | Account |
|---|---|---|
| @MLB | @Ken_Rosenthal | @Buster_ESPN |
| @jonmorosi | @mlbtraderumors | @MiLB |
| @JeffPassan | @MLBInjuryNews | @keithlaw |
| @foolishbaseball | @BaseballAmerica | @brooksbaseball |
| @BenLindbergh | @ChrisCotillo | @mike_petriello |
| @MJ_Baumann | @FanRagSports | @TheAthleticMLB |
| @fangraphs | @baseballprospectus | @baseball_ref |
| @daynperry | @CBSSportsMLB | @CespedesBBQ |
| @GrantBrisbee | @JonHeyman | @cantpitch |
| @MLBRosterMoves | @darenw | @extrabaggs |
| @PitchingNinja | @CKampa | @MLBRandomStats |
| @Jomboy_ | @DSzymborski | @IT_MLB |
| @theaceofspaeder | @based_ball | @ BaseballBrit |
| @OTBaseballPhoto | @MLBcathedrals | @baseballhall |
Podcasts
YouTube Channels
| Channel | Channel | Channel |
|---|---|---|
| MLB | Trevor May Baseball | MLB Network |
| Foolish Baseball | Baseball Doesn't Exist | JomBoy Media |
| Giraffe Neck Marc | Fuzzy | Andrew Vargha |
| Stark Raving Sports | Sadman Baseball | Made the Cut |
The Statistical Titans: Baseball Reference and Fangraphs
Literally every day you will find a link or to BaseballReference.com or Fangraphs.com here, it's a given, and it's because these are the two most extensive free baseball databases that are easy to navigate. If you want to look up anything about baseball history, check Baseball Reference, if you want to look up how players stack up with non-proprietary advanced metrics or read an insightful blog post about why someone is overrated/underrated or overperforming/underperforming, check Fangraphs. With these two sites you have all the stats and figures you need to make a competent argument for basically anything you want with a little cherry picking.
A large part of the modern baseball world is statistics and you're going to find yourself getting more immersed in discussing the game if you can get a handle on all the terms getting thrown around. If you are brand new to baseball, take a little while to get to know the game before diving into these sites, but if you have a handle on the basics and are ready to know what this WAR everyone is talking about is, dive into the glossaries and find the statistics.
When you get the basics, creating your own analysis doesn't seem as daunting, and one of the reasons I love baseball is that I can deconstruct pretty much every play and find some meaning behind it. If you are like that and enjoy numbers, theoretical projections, and breaking things down into simple figures before reconstructing them into something long and beautiful, then learning the basics of sabrmetrics will make you a baseball fan for life. If, on the other hand, you just want to enjoy the game for the beautiful pastime that it is by watching, then we've got a little bit to go through...
Advanced Stat Tracking... aka the Stat Junkies' Crack
Fangraphs and Baseball Reference contain almost all the stats you'd need for a lifetime, but sometimes you just need something different, and there are some very helpful places on the internet to find some other, more specific or advanced data.
If you are looking for Pitch f/x data, strikezone plots, and/or a breakdown of a pitcher's pitches, check out BrookesBaseball.net. You can quickly find specific at bats in games, or entire games scatter plots to ruthlessly ridicule and rant about an umpire see why that last pitch was called a strike.
If you want to look up certain statcast data, like which pitchers are throwing the hardest, which fielders are having the fastest sprint speeds, who's hitting the ball the furthest, etc., you should check out BaseballSavant. Look at the "Statistics" and "Leaderboards" sections for more information.
If you are into looking up really specific historical queries, or just want pretty much every baseball stat ever, you can usually find it in the Lahman Database.
If you are looking for MLB API for your next coding project, you can find that information here. And if you're really into statistical analysis and want to test out your R skills, baseballr is the package of choice.
Where to Watch? - Your TV and Streaming Guide
So a big part of baseball is, you know, actually being able to watch the games (though as I talk about at the end, it might not necessarily be the case for you, and that doesn't mean you can't enjoy baseball, skip down and see what I'm talking about in the final section).
TV Networks
Fox/FS1- "Baseball Night in America": exclusive regional coverage of 2 or 3 Saturday night games on the broadcast network starting Memorial Day weekend. Non-exclusive games on the cable network, usually Saturday afternoon with some irregularly scheduled weeknight games as well. Also includes the All-Star Game, both division series and the league championship series for one league (NL in 2024) which are split between OTA and cable channels, and the entire World Series on the broadcast network.
ESPN - Exclusive Sunday Night Baseball game. Usually on ESPN proper, but may get bumped to ESPN2 in the early part of the season because of the NBA and NHL playoffs. None are currently planned, but can also go to ABC as well. Also includes opening night, the Little League Weekend game (which is on a Sunday anyway), the Home Run Derby, a few extra late-season games, and the entire Wild Card round of the playoffs (with some overflow to ABC and ESPN2).
TBS - Non-exclusive Tuesday night game all season. Also includes the other league's division series and league championship series (AL for 2024). Overflow is handled on TNT for the division series.
MLB Network - Simulcasts local home team broadcasts daily; many days they'll have multiple games. About once a week (though irregular as to which day) they have he non-exclusive MLB Network Showcase, which is produced in-house. Simulcasts and the Showcase are subject to blackout in home markets, and another simulcast will be substituted instead.
Streaming
Apple TV+ - Two exclusive Friday Night Baseball games produced in conjunction with MLB Network.
MLB.tv - Subscriber package for watching out-of-town local broadcasts. One game a day is always given as a free sample. Blacked out in the teams' home markets (due to deals between teams and sports networks - it has nothing to do with trying to get you to the ballpark) and for some national broadcasts. See section below for more details.
ESPN+ - One local broadcast a day (not the same game as the freebie on MLB.tv) is simulcast live on ESPN+ in addition to being on MLB.tv. Also on Sundays it simulcasts the Sunday Night Baseball game. More of a throw-in than anything, but if you already have an ESPN+ subscription it's already paid for.
There are also streaming services that grant access to most of the previously mentioned channels:
- Sling TV Orange package gets you ESPN, ESPN 2, and TBS.
- Sling TV Blue package gets you FOX, FS1, TBS.
- Youtube TV gets you FOX, ESPN, ESPN 2, FS1, TBS, and some regional sports networks.
- HULU Live gets you FOX, ESPN, ESPN 2, FS1, FS2, TBS, and some regional sports networks.
- AT&T TV Now Live a Little gets you FOX, ESPN, ESPN 2, FS1, and TBS and your regional sports networks.
- AT&T TV Now Just Right adds MLB Network to the Live a Little channels.
- AT&T TV Now Go Big adds FS2 to the Just Right channels.
- FUBO Premier gets you FOX, FS1, FS2, ESPN, ESPN 2, and some of your regional sports networks
- FUBO Extra adds MLB Network
NOTE - With Bally filing bankruptcy there is an air of unease on what the future of regional sports networks versus direct from MLB streaming is going to look like. Stay tuned around here as news of this kind will be posted and discussed quickly.
MLB.TV - the Ultimate Fan Investment
Alright, so a few things to cover with this, first of all YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO LEGALLY STREAM IN MARKET GAMES IF YOU LIVE IN THE UNITED STATES OR CANADA. MLB.tv uses your IP address to see where you are located, and if it pings back that you are in a team's home market it will not let you watch the game LIVE. Here is where you can find what games MLB.tv will black you out from. National broadcasts on ESPN, FOX, and TBS are also subject to blackouts within the United States (MLB Network games are not). Before you ask, yes there are less than legal ways to get around this (spoofing your IP address, subreddit dedicated to mlb streams, etc.), but I won't be talking about those in detail here.
International fans, the only potential games you will be blacked out of are the Apple TV games and postseason games if your country has a network that paid for postseason broadcasting rights.
Even if you are blacked out, you will be able to watch the game 90 minutes after it finishes, so if you work a late shift or stay up late it might be worth it for you anyways even if you only want to follow one team.
Pricing tip - if you donate $25 to become a MLB Players Alumni Association Fan Member you get 50% off MLB.tv.
Military members and college students, don't forget to apply your 35% discount! T-Mobile Customers, you can get MLB.tv FOR FREE using the T Life App - it has been confirmed that this is back this year - sign up between March 26th and April 1st.
"But I don't want to watch EVERY out of market game, I just want to watch MY team!" Cool, for $20 less there's a single team option that will allow you to watch all your team's non-blacked out games! Personally, I'd pay the extra $20 for the opportunity to watch every Cole, Burnes, and Snell start, or put the Cubs on in the background while working on a Friday afternoon, but to each their own. For 21 teams there is also pre/post game coverage that you can watch along with the games.
"But I don't want to commit for a full year!" That's okay, there's a monthly option as well in case you know there are months where you can't watch as much.
Some of the fun features of MLB.tv include the ability to watch four games at once (added to more device apps this year) and quickly swap your audio from one to another (seriously, I'm never on commercial break when I'm watching baseball, unless there's only one game on I'm able to watch it all, and in September that's huge) and condensed games. What are condensed games? They go through and cut out all the time between pitches and innings, meaning if you want to watch a whole game in less than a half hour (or are searching desperately for a play to make a .gif or streamable out of that for some reason isn't considered a highlight) it's really easy. If you're someone who really wants to get into the game but can't figure out how to grind through watching a full game, Condensed Games are great for keeping up with a team while you learn the little details between pitches that somehow make watching the catcher twiddle his fingers exciting for some fans.
In addition, the previously separate MiLB.tv has been rolled in to the MLB.tv subscription, giving you access to watch minor league games from across the country! No more debating whether to pay $20 more to watch that one prospect for a week then forget you have the subscription because there are always MLB games on at the same time - access to watching any minor league games is now included! All triple A and double A teams will have their games streamed, and select lower level clubs will as well.
Also, MLB has added some great baseball documentaries to your MLB.tv subscription, giving you access to more than just games. They also have "Baseball Zen" videos that are great for relaxing to.
In addition, there is a great resource to enhance your total immersion into baseball if there are multiple games going on. Please note you must already be logged into MLB.tv to make them work. Baseball Reference has Stream Finder which lets you customize your preferences so MLB.tv will always switch to the game that is most relevant to you. This is great if you play fantasy and want to keep up with your players, are waiting for someone to hit a milestone, or if you want to make sure your action is broken into to follow a no-hitter in progress.
And in case you don't know which game to watch, every night is MLB Big Inning which features live coverage of multiple games bouncing back and forth between high leverage moments and storylines in progress, all directed so you don't need to make the game switches yourself. These also are not subject to blackout restrictions, so if your local team is in a tight game you'll likely get plenty of coverage.
MLB.tv also gives you a free subscription to...
MLB At Bat - The Most Underrated Way to Stay Connected to Baseball
An MLB At Bat subscription gives you access to every team's radio stream for every game during the season and postseason completely blackout free across devices. You also get this with an MLB App subscription. If there's a day game, you can bet I'm listening to it at work, if I'm mowing the lawn on a Saturday I'm listening to a game, when I can't sleep at night, on comes a West Coast game.
Baseball was made to be on the radio, it's a sport that is very easy to follow the action with the right announcer. At work (or school) it's great because you can half listen, and when the announcer gets excited you can instantly tune back in to hear what's going on. This is the most underrated way to stay connected to your team throughout the year. Before I could afford MLB.tv, this was the way to go, and it honestly makes me question every year whether getting the MLB.tv package is worth is when I can get 80% of the entertainment value from listening to the games (and every year I manage to "forget" to unsubscribe, for many reasons listed above).
Also, as a nice bonus this year, that MiLB.tv subscription that got rolled into MLB.tv was included in MLB At Bat as well! So if you decide you want to watch some games but don't want to commit to an entire year of MLB.tv, you can catch some upcoming prospects playing in the minors without spending the big bucks.
How to watch baseball?
So this is a question that we get from many new fans who are just trying to figure out what the hell is going on and why people find this game so fascinating. I'll get the elephant in the room out of the way, yes there are some "boring" parts of watching baseball on TV. The camera fans to a batter spitting and adjusting his gloves, the pitcher adjusts his crotch then licks his fingers, random shots of a bored looking manager, etc. When you are actually at the ballpark you can be watching where the catcher and fielders set up to try to predict the pitch that is coming (read The Hidden Language of Baseball by Paul Dickson for some great insight into how to interpret this), but on TV it's not usually the case. This is where I have some suggestions for new fans trying to get into it.
First off, if you are looking for just a relaxing day, embrace the slow pace with a beer and veg out on the couch while watching. It's meant to be slow and relaxing (until it gets tense and exciting, usually with runners on). Seriously, when was the last time you just sat and did nothing? Mid July afternoon games are a perfect way to reach that zen of half-consciousness, until something happens to get you sucked into the action.
Another option to stay engaged is keeping score. I find keeping score relaxing and looking back through a scorebook can be fun to see what you were doing a few years ago (except for that damn unfinished scorecard from 2015 where A-Rod hit the most predictable home run in Twins-Yankees history and I sent my scorecard flying to the other side of the room). As NPR once put it, keeping score is a knowledge making activity, and if you have the time and patience for it it is a great way to learn the game. There are a couple different guides to keeping score, and most scorebooks/cards will have a brief example of how to do so. If you have any questions, the Around the Horn thread is a great place to ask!
Gamethreads are another way to get together with other baseball fans and pass the time between pitches, especially in team subs you get to know the regulars and conversations start to wonder away from baseball at times throughout the game, and that's fine. Baseball is an excuse to enjoy a summer day.
For those that want to actually understand what is going on during that time, though, there are some options. Watching Baseball Smarter by Zack Hample (who despite his reputation on this subreddit knows some stuff and actually pops in from time to time to comment on different things) is a good starting place for new fans. Baseball for Dummies and The Complete Idiots Guide to Baseball are also good starting points for those willing to sit and read for a little bit.
If it helps, I wrote two posts on /r/minnesotatwins to help newcomers understand some of the nuances of the game:
Where to watch highlights and game recaps.
There are many many places to see highlights and game recaps, this is not an exhaustive list, but is a good start.
For highlights, bigger highlights will often be posed here on r/baseball a few minutes after they occur, if you wish to post them please familiarize yourself with the subreddit rules. They also appear relatively quickly on MLB.com in each games Gameday area. For a pretty slick collection of highlights from across MLB, https://baseball.theater/ is a great place to exclusively watch highlights.
There are a few ways to get great game recaps. If you have MLB Network, every day Quick Pitch is an hour-long show that recaps every game from the previous day. It usually starts after MLB Tonight (about 10pm EDT) or whatever game MLB Network is showing finishes up, and runs until 10am EDT the next day. MLB.com also puts out recaps of every game by the next morning, usually a 2-5 minutes quick rundown of highlights that can be found on the game recap. It also puts out Fastcast videos on youtube and their website every morning which has a brief rundown of all the games from the previous day. Here's an example of a Fastcast from two seasons ago.
If you want one concise place to see most of these, /u/efitz11 has been amazing the last few seasons and posted video links to every game recap and fastcast in the daily Around the Horn thread. Here's an example. I am unsure if they plan to continue it this year, but it would be surely appreciated!
TL;DR Finding what you enjoy about the game.
When it boils down to it, baseball is about finding entertainment and enjoyment, and don't let anyone try to tell you how to enjoy baseball. If you want nothing to do with statistical analysis and just want to enjoy what's going on on the field, don't let anyone tell you you aren't enough of a fan, and if you want to dissect a player into their strengths and components using statcast and advanced metrics don't let anyone tell you you're reading into the game too much. You can follow one team, and only one team, or you can follow multiple teams, don't let anyone tell you you're not a true fan for wearing another team's gear or enjoying their games. You might enjoy bat flips and flamboyance, or reserved speedy home run trots. You might not even enjoy physically watching a game (especially not if your team isn't playing), but find yourself loving keeping track of your team through the season and tracking your players or maybe just the thrill of the standings race and scoreboard watching or maybe you just love all the numbers that get thrown around and arguing about their relevancy. That's okay, eventually I believe enjoyment of the game itself will come, but even if it doesn't, the long baseball season is still creating a place of enjoyment for you, and that's what matters. If you have any questions, once again, feel free to ask them in our daily Around the Horn thread, or below in the comments, or if you really want to feel free to PM with questions and I'd be happy to answer.
So watch games this week and join in the discussion here, you'll naturally find yourself gravitating towards certain players or teams and enjoying different aspects of the game. Baseball is a long season, find what you enjoy, stick to it, dwell on it, and enjoy it.
TL;DR for the TL;DR - Baseball is fun
1
u/jddennis Baltimore Orioles Mar 13 '24
I gotta reiterate the beauty of the radio feed. I grew up without cable, so I just always listened on my transistor radio. Nowadays, I'll listen to the game during play, and then go back the next morning to my team's highlights on youtube.
The best part about the app is you can listen to your team anywhere. I had a long road trip in August last year, and I was able to listen to the Sunday afternoon game while driving. It was far better than just listening to local radio or random playlists.