Archive for the ‘Baseball’ Category

Which MLB team has the best Instagram community?

Posted by Scott Johnson under Baseball, Instagram, Social Media on May 13, 2013

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The San Francisco Giants have beat out the Los Angeles Dodgers to hold on to their title of the kings of Instagram.  While the New York Yankees dominate both Twitter (893k) and Facebook (6.3m), the Giants have successfully conquered the popular photo-based app. Not only are the Giants the most popular team on the platform, but their stadium consistently has the most activity during game day.

“Instagram allows fans to share their experience through artistic photos,” said Bryan Srabian, social media director for the Giants. “AT&T Park is one of the most beautiful settings for baseball, and it is always great to see the different perspectives through the eyes of our fans. Each picture tells a different story. It has been a blast to connect with fans.”

Here’s your final report of the Instagram numbers:

Team Photos Following Followers
San Francisco Giants 1001 2 231,801
Los Angeles Dodgers 895 35 218,928
New York Yankees 219 5 150,071
Atlanta Braves 227 17 76,533
Boston Red Sox 317 0 65,133
Detroit Tigers 294 31 39,146
Texas Rangers 371 1 37,665
Los Angeles Angels of Aneheim 124 11 30,676
Cincinnati Reds 477 44 30,238
Oakland Athletics 291 4 28,740
Chicago Cubs 175 32 28,589
Philadelphia Phillies 196 1 28,369
St. Louis Cardinals 228 27 25,987
Baltimore Orioles 134 0 25,329
New York Mets 147 1 24,998
Toronto Blue Jays 246 11 24,749
Seattle Mariners 740 16 22,939
Chicago White Sox 204 2 22,416
Arizona Diamondbacks 440 3 17,612
Colorado Rockies 711 91 15,824
Washington Nationals 78 0 14,699
Milwaukee Brewers 270 2 14,043
Miami Marlins 252 43 12,731
Kansas City Royals 216 3 12,431
Cleveland Indians 174 4 12,393
San Diego Padres 138 15 12,362
Tampa Bay Rays 333 8 11,472
Pittsburgh Pirates 154 31 11,204
Houston Astros 168 29 9,644
Minnesota Twins 261 23 6,864

 

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Can’t use Twitter / Instagram during a baseball game? They’re working on it.

Posted by Scott Johnson under Baseball, Facebook, Instagram, Social Media on Apr 23, 2013

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Depending on your phone provider, using your phone at a stadium/arena is sometimes a hassle. Uploading an Instagram pic, sending out a tweet, or checking out other scores around the league is usually harder inside a stadium, and it’s pretty frustrating for sports fans.

Major League Baseball is aware of the connection issues fans are having, and are teaming up with Qualcomm to review and optimize stadium Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G connections. Today, rapid data processing should be second nature to venues across all leagues. In terms of stats, here’s what February’s Super Bowl looked like:

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ESPN reached out to Dan Novak, VP of global marketing at Qualcomm: “You think about downloading a video or statistics. More and more [fans are] uploading video, photos, some sort of content on Instagram or any of the other platforms that have become so popular. It’s just not that uncommon to be at a sports venue or dense setting and not be able to do the simple things or the Internet connectivity slow to a crawl. It’s really not the experience you hope or expect to have.”

Let’s review the pros and cons of having access to your Instagram account during a Jays game:

PROS:

CONS:
None.

So what’s the plan? They’ll travel to each stadium this season, and study the logistics and data usage of the venue. No timetable has been set as to when it integration will begin, but we’ll keep you posted.

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5 random questions with Jose Bautista

Posted by Scott Johnson under Baseball, MLB: The Show, PS3, Sony on Apr 09, 2013

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Last Friday, we headed to the PlayStation Lounge to talk to cover athlete and Jays outfielder Jose Bautista about MLB 13: The Show. The previous night, he left the game early with a twisted ankle, and we noticed him limping around while going back and forth between interviews at the Lounge. A lot of the usual stock questions were being asked by the networks:

  • How’s the season going so far?
  • Are you adjusting to the Toronto weather yet?
  • Can you sign my jersey? (this really happened… #amateur)

Hearing the same questions over and over gets boring really quick. So we decided, fuck the stock questions… time to have some fun. After the interview was over, he said he had a lot of fun with this. So here you go:

#PoppedAHomerImSweatin.

Big thanks to Janine Smith and Ari Xenarios for the invite to the PlayStation lounge.

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ROSTER UPDATE: MLB 13 The Show for April 8, 2013

Posted by Scott Johnson under Baseball, MLB: The Show, PS Vita, PS3, Sony on Apr 08, 2013

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A new roster update dropped for MLB 13: The Show this morning, and there are a ton of changes. First of all, the following the players are now added to the game:

Aaron Hicks (MIN), Alejandro Sanabia (MIA), Alfredo Marte (ARI), Angel Sanchez (CHW), Brad Peacock (HOU), Brandon Maurier (SEA), Brendan Harris (LAA), Chris Valaika (MIA), Edgar Gonzalez (HOU), Ender Inciarte (PHI), Evan Gattis (ATL), Greg Burke (NYM), Hector Rondon (CHC), Hyun-jin Ryu (LAD), Jackie Bradley (BOS), JB Shuck (LAA), Jedd Gyorko (SD), Joe Ortiz (TEX), John Maine (MIA), Jon Garland (COL), Jose Fernandez (MIA), Josh Fields (HOU), Josh Wilson (ARI), Juan Gutierrez (KC), Julio Borbon (TEX), Justin Sellers (LA), Kevin Slowey (MIA), Khris Davis (MIL), Kyuji Fujikawa (CHC), Leury Garcia (TEX), Matt Tuiasosopo (DET), Miguel Tejada (KC), Nick Noonan (SF), Nick Tepesch (TEX), Ryan Pressly (MIN), Scitt Kazmir (CLE), Scott Rice (NYM), TJ McFarland (BAL), Wilkin Ramirez (MIN)

Now, for a list of all of the changes:

  • Alex Burnett moved from Twins minors to Blue Jays minors
  • Bartolo Colon moved from A’s minors to A’s starting
  • Brent Lillibridge moved from Cubs bench to Cubs position
  • Brian Matusz moved from Orioles relief to Orioles starting
  • Brian McCann moved from Braves position to Braves minors
  • Chad Billingsley moved from Dodgers starting to Dodgers minors
  • Chien Ming Wang moved from Free Agent to Yankees minors
  • Clint Robinson moved from Pirates minors to Blue Jays minors
  • Collin Cowgill moved from Mets bench to Mets Position Read the rest of this entry »
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How MLB 13: The Show is winning the social game right now

Posted by Scott Johnson under Baseball, MLB: The Show, PS3, Sony on Apr 01, 2013

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We’ve previously reported on how sports gaming companies run their social media accounts during big news in their respective sports. The Madden team is quick on the ball, posting screenshots of athletes in their new jerseys after a trade has been announced, and the NHL team is starting to do the same. If you follow MLB: The Show’s Twitter account, you probably noticed their awesome social strategy this past week. They’re doing a bunch of giveaways today, but the big thing that’s catching eyes is their Vine approach. Here’s how it works:

The MLB: The Show team surprised a number of their fans on Twitter with custom created baseball cards, using the popular social app called Vine. These cards are animated in a six-second video clip, and are based off the likeness of the fans’ Twitter avatar. They also feature the fan playing for their favorite team (see the example of Twitter user Jack Pattillo, fan of the Texas Rangers below).

This is the first time I’ve seen something like this, and it’s an awesome way to create hype, and to add a sense of community to your brand.

If you want a chance to have your own baseball card created by the Show team, follow their Twitter over at @MLBTheShow.

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ROSTER UPDATE: MLB 13 The Show for April 1, 2013

Posted by Scott Johnson under Baseball, MLB: The Show, PS3, Sony on Apr 01, 2013

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A new roster update is out for MLB 13: The Show, just in time for the baseball’s opening day. Justin Hampton and Rafael Perez have been added to the game, and there are 250 player moments in total for this update. Some of the roster changes include:

  • Adam Eaton (ARI): Sent down to the minors
  • Aroldis Chapman (CIN): Moved from starting to closer
  • Ben Francisco (NYY): Traded from the Indians to the Yankees
  • Brennan Boesch (NYY): Traded from the Tigers to the Yankees
  • Brett Lawrie (TOR): Sent down to the minors
  • Chris Snyder (LAA): Traded from the Nationals to the Angels
  • David Ortiz (BOS): Sent down to the minors
  • Derek Jeter (NYY): Sent down to the minors
  • Derek Lowe (TEX): Signed to the Texas Rangers
  • Gerardo Parra (ARI): Off the bench, now a starter
  • J.A. Happ (TOR): Brought up from the minors
  • Jason Giambi (CLE): Sent down to the minors
  • Jason Motte (STL): Sent down to the minors
  • Jeff Niemann (TB): Moved from starting to relief
  • Johan Santana (NYM): Sent down to the minors
  • Jonathan Broxton (CIN): Moved from closer to relief
  • Jonny Venters (ATL): Sent down to the minors
  • Jordan Scahfer (ATL): Brought up from the minors
  • Jose Iglesias (BOS): Brought up from the minors
  • Kyle Lohse (MIL): Signed to the Brewers
  • Lyle Overbay (NYY): Traded from the Red Sox to the Yankees
  • Maicer Izturis (TOR): Off the bench, now a starter
  • Mark Teixeira (NYY): Sent down to the minors
  • Mike Carp (BOS): Off the bench, now a starter
  • Mitchell Boggs (STL): Moved to the closer position
  • Phil Hughes (NYY): Sent down to the minors
  • Rick Ankiel (HOU): Off the bench, now a starter
  • Ricky Romero (TOR): Sent down to the minors
  • Roberto Hernandez (TB): Moved from relief to starting
  • Ronny Cedeno (HOU): Traded from the Cardinals to the Astros
  • Stephen Drew (BOS): Sent down to the minors
  • Vernon Wells (NYY): Traded from the Angels to the Yankees
  • Yuniesky Betancourt (MIL): Traded from the Phillies minors to the Brewers

Pop the game in, a message will prompt you to download the updated roster.

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MLB 13 The Show Title Update 1.18 is Now Available

Posted by Scott Lewis under Baseball, MLB: The Show, PS3, Sony on Mar 26, 2013

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Sony has released a title update for MLB 13: The Show, which includes numerous fixes to art, online play, backend functions, and several hiccups. Below is a breakdown of all the fixes and changes, via MLB The Show Nation:

- In offline and online games, there was an occasional hitch/millisecond delay just as the pitcher would release the pitch. This was reported with a frequency ranging from approximately 10%

- 40%. The title was writing data to the HDD at this point, causing the brief, but noticeable hiccup in the gameplay. When the title writes to the HDD has been adjusted, and this hitch/delay will no longer occur.

- Franchise Fantasy Draft blank screen in Standard Def only. This was reported with a 100% frequency. In a Franchise mode, when performing a Fantasy Draft, the first round worked correctly. Every round after the first round would have a blank list of available players and drafted players. User could scroll through the empty list and choose players, but the player names were invisible. This was standard definition only. This has been fixed.

Read the rest of this entry »

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