TL;DR: We are no longer accepting content from X/Twitter with immediate effect. This will include both links and screenshots.

Due to recent events and the rapid deterioration of the user experience, we have made the decision to ban all X/Twitter content from the r/baseball subreddit. We feel confident that breaking news and other share-worthy content can be found in other places with a better experience for users who come to r/baseball to browse as well as those who are hardcore users. This decision was not taken lightly as the discussion regarding X/Twitter has been going on for months, our poll earlier this week had thousands of users vote (over 70% in favor of a ban), and we have received tons of feedback directly from users through that poll and modmail.

While we acknowledge that lots of our content currently comes from X, the origination of that content is often widespread. This includes sports media giants like ESPN to baseball-specific sites like MLBTR. We encourage all users who share content on this subreddit to find this original content and share it directly including articles, media, and breaking news.

We appreciate all the feedback we have been provided over the last few days and believe this is the correct decision based on what we have received. We encourage you to continue providing feedback over the next several weeks and months to help ensure we are getting the right content to r/baseball.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is happening with MLB and the teams?

We’ve been in contact with the social media teams and they are working through their strategies. We expect to see lots of action very soon.

What about my favorite journalist or newsbreaker who only posts to X/Twitter?

We have been reaching out to top content producers and asking where their content can be found outside of Twitter. We encourage you all to do so as well. Jeff Passan shared with us directly that all of his content can be found on a new Breaking News feed on ESPN. Here is the feed. He confirmed with us that he does not have a Bluesky at this time. Baseball journalists are flocking to other sites like Bluesky everyday. The list is growing by the hour and many of the journalists have places where their content outside of social media (like Passan’s above feed). Sites like MLBTR and MLB.com post breaking news directly to their site and we strongly encourage the use of these two sites and others like them.

Why aren’t screenshots allowed?

Banning X/Twitter but still allowing the content in another form doesn’t drive action from the larger baseball community (i.e. no motivation for anyone to change their behavior). The ability to create a high quality fake of a tweet is too easy right now. We have had many instances of fake screenshots (that resulted in bans) even before this rule and we believe this would increase. Our rules currently do not allow for screenshots or screen recordings and we felt the continuity of that rule made more sense rather than changing that rule completely.

What happens if I forget and try to post a link to X/Twitter?

We will be utilizing automod to help encourage finding that content elsewhere. You should get a message immediately from automod suggesting ways to alter or change your post to align with the rules of r/baseball. We also plan to enhance our Posting Guidelines to help you BEFORE you hit submit to help save time and effort.

How much content has come from X/Twitter?

In 2024, X/Twitter content tracked at approximately 20% with larger spikes around the trade deadline (max of 35% during 1 week).

What if I don’t have Bluesky but want to start using it? Can I find the same content?

Many users on Bluesky have created “Starter Packs” which suggest accounts to follow. There are many good Starter Packs and here we have linked several that cover a wide range of the baseball industry. You can follow us on Bluesky and we can help you find profiles to follow.

What if this is awful and we all hate it?

If this doesn’t go as planned, we will change to make it right. Please continue to tell us how you feel in the coming weeks and months.