MLB Taps Olivia Rodrigo Deep Cut to Chase Younger Fans Online

Major League Baseball's main Instagram and TikTok accounts posted a highlight montage on October 2 that has drawn more than 2.1 million views, according to The Verge. The number matters less than the soundtrack choice behind it: the league set postseason clips of the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox and other Division Series teams to "My Way," an album track — not a single — from Olivia Rodrigo's latest record.

What made the October 2 video different?

The clip itself followed a familiar format: players sliding into home, hitting home runs, celebrating wins. What drew attention was the audio layered over it, a deep cut carrying the lyric "And here is the part where the girl gets pissed / And the girl is me, did you get that hint?" MLB's editorial accounts posted it as the Division Series opened, timing the release to the start of the postseason bracket, per The Verge.

Why pick an album track over a single?

The choice signals a shift in who MLB's social team is optimizing for. A single would reach a broader, more casual listener base; an album track reaches people who already follow an artist closely enough to recognize a non-radio song. Commenters on the post picked up on that distinction immediately. "I see I'm part of a very niche part of MLB fans," one wrote, according to The Verge. Another replied, "Target audience reached." Those reactions suggest the montage was built to signal recognition to a specific, younger slice of the fan base rather than to maximize reach among existing baseball viewers.

How does this fit MLB's broader social push?

The Verge frames the clip as part of a wider pattern: a league historically cautious about internet culture is now leaning into fandom trends and influencer-style content rather than treating social accounts purely as highlight distribution. The report notes MLB's accounts posted the video as the Division Series began, ahead of a World Series between the Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays that drew its own crowd shots circulating in game coverage, including from game two, per Getty Images credited in The Verge's report.

What does 2.1 million views actually measure?

View counts on Instagram and TikTok count any playback of a set length, not completed watches or unique viewers, so the figure is a reach signal rather than a measure of sustained attention. Still, for a single postseason promo clip, 2.1 million views is the kind of number that validates a creative bet — in this case, trading a universally recognizable pop single for a song that only resonates with listeners deep enough into an artist's catalog to catch the reference.

What should other leagues watching this take away?

The underlying test MLB appears to be running is whether niche cultural signaling — a specific song, a specific lyric, timed to a specific bracket moment — outperforms broad-appeal content with younger audiences who split time across TikTok, Instagram and streaming rather than cable broadcasts. The Verge's reporting does not include comparative engagement data from MLB's traditional broadcast highlight reels, so there is no benchmark yet showing whether this approach beats the league's older format on reach or retention.