Some social media accounts are better at reading the room than others. And well, with leagues and franchises already fully in bed with sports gambling companies, it should come as no surprise that they would promote such a thing. But in the wake of Shohei Ohtani’s scandal, any decision to do so seems short-sighted at best. Enter the New York Yankees.
While North America’s major professional sports leagues made a habit of avoiding even tenuous connections to gambling for decades, that’s changed in recent years. As a sign of how much things have changed, the Yankees used the team’s official Twitter/X account on Thursday to acknowledge that a bet had been cashed.
Following their Opening Day victory against the Houston Astros, the New York Yankees referenced FanDuel Sportsbook’s odds for Thursday’s starter, Nestor Cortes, to record at least five strikeouts (+112). This social media post acknowledged Cortes’ strong start while promoting their official sports betting partnership with FanDuel.
Nestor settled in.
+112 to record 5+ Ks ✅ Odds from @FDSportsbook pic.twitter.com/3ITiHbqF4g
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 29, 2024
And no, they weren’t shamed into deleting the tweet like the NBA’s Houston Rockets were last November for promoting a Jalen Green prop bet. While this is different from promoting a bet beforehand, acknowledging that your starter had five or more strikeouts in what was a pretty pedestrian outing: five innings, five hits, four runs (four earned), two walks, and a home run, seems like a weird flex at best and tone deaf at worst.
As you might imagine, the reactions on social media were plentiful.
Facial hair ❌
Tweeting gambling props from the team account ✅ https://t.co/TKYNZCM7EC— Ethan aka The People’s Insider (@EthanGSN) March 29, 2024
call me a boomer/old fashioned but official MLB accounts should not be posting like this https://t.co/sQrYC9A1vi
— kev mahserejian (@RotoSurgeon) March 29, 2024
Official team accounts promoting “winning bets” from thier players isn’t sitting right with me… https://t.co/BNqjdPB0Hm
— Shayne Trail (@ShayneTrail) March 29, 2024
Tweeting this from the the official team twitter is wild. https://t.co/66tBwFqjxC
— Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) March 29, 2024
How is an official team account allowed to promote gambling in relation to their own games? https://t.co/MbKIBruvI5
— Josh (@JoshGreenberg27) March 29, 2024
Teams promoting bets is insane. This should not be allowed at all https://t.co/ka8NiRA10T
— ubuggin (@ubuggin205) March 29, 2024
I really don’t understand how anyone can pretend gambling isn’t taking over the entire experience of sports. https://t.co/keqYOjQAe3
— Maggie Wiggin (@maggie162) March 29, 2024
https://twitter.com/matttomic/status/1773520952749662299?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1773520952749662299%7Ctwgr%5E78277f5241a6f69c570f1ec801ec2980d0445511%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Furl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fmatttomic%2Fstatus%2F1773520952749662299
Read the room
— Hacked Bracket (@hackedbracket) March 29, 2024
On the first day of baseball after the biggest gambling scandal this sport has seen in half a century and the league’s most recognizable team does this: https://t.co/tmCMC6CCGZ
— Stephen Josiah (@StephenJosiah13) March 29, 2024
Guys, with all due respect
— Chris Novak (@ChrisMNovak) March 29, 2024
Don’t do this. https://t.co/fKk0ETWnUN
— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) March 29, 2024
And with that, the Yankees’ post highlights the fine line teams walk between celebrating the game and potentially alienating fans uncomfortable with the increased focus on gambling.
[New York Yankees on Twitter/X}