*By Max Godnick*
Major League Baseball has a relevance problem.
Professional baseball practically withers on social media when compared to the other major American sports leagues; MLB has just 8.2 million followers on Twitter, while the NBA and the NFL boast 27.4 million and 24.2 million, respectively. Baseball's brightest stars can't compete with the mega-watt likes of LeBron James and Tom Brady in name recognition or cultural ubiquity.
In July, baseball's best player, Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, [admitted](https://www.si.com/mlb/2018/07/12/mike-trout-los-angeles-angels) he's never been invited to appear on a late-night talk show. And the league's biggest moment isn't getting much love either with ratings for 2017's World Series down 18 percent compared to the year before.
But there is a path forward that may resemble the glory days when larger-than-life teams and players helped baseball earn the title of America's pastime.
"If I'm in charge of Major League Baseball's marketing, I am praying that the Yankees go further," James Yoder, the CEO and founder of Chat Sports, said Tuesday in an interview on Cheddar.
In order to do that, the team will have to beat sworn rivals, the Boston Red Sox.
Despite a high-octane lineup of young sluggers with enough firepower to beat any challengers, the Yankees find themselves down two games to one in the American League Division Series and will need to win their next game if they're going to advance to the American League Champion Series against defending champs, the Houston Astros.
One Bronx Bomber stands head and shoulders ー literally ー above the rest.
"\[Aaron\] Judge is the guy, I think from a marketing perspective, that Major League Baseball has got to be hanging their hat on," Yoder said of the Yankee outfielder.
The 6'7" right fielder is a two-time All-Star and a bonafide phenomenon. Yoder described him as a "throwback" to iconic players like Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Mark McGwire.
"He's huge," Yoder said. "He's a giant, for a baseball player."
But despite Judge's impressive stats and a superstar slot on baseball's most storied and popular team, he only has 960,000 followers on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/thejudge44/?hl=en), while far-lesser players in other sports have no problem hitting seven-figures on social media.
As for the Yankees' potential World Series opponent, Yoder thinks the Los Angeles Dodgers present the greatest opportunity for the sport ー and perhaps the league.
"It's got to be Dodgers verses the Yankees-Red Sox winner in the World Series, if this is going to be an all-time postseason from a ratings perspective," he said.
That dream match-up is still very much in play. The Dodgers advanced to the National League Championship Series after defeating the Atlanta Braves.
They'll face the Milwaukee Brewers in their quest to reach the World Series for the second consecutive year. Last year, the team lost to the Astros in the deciding Game 7.
If MLB wants to return to the top of the sports-media ladder, Judge and the Yankees would do well to eat their Wheaties before they face the Red Sox in a do-or-die fourth game on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-world-series-matchup-that-could-fix-mlbs-ratings-problem).
Alex Silverman, senior reporter covering the business of sports at Morning Consult, joins Cheddar News to discuss why the number of those betting on sports doubled in 2021 and what's next for the industry in 2022.
If you have not placed your buffalo wings order yet, hurry up. The biggest weekend in NFL playoff history kicks off in just under 48 hours with six games being played over three days. Sports Analyst at Yahoo Sports Pamela Maldonado joined Cheddar to give us a preview ahead of the Super Wild Card Weekend.
With the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing rapidly approaching, clouds of controversy continue to swirl around China's treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority population, its surveillance state, and security for visiting athletes. Phelim Kine, China correspondent for Politico, joined Cheddar to break down the big storylines surrounding the Beijing Games and highlight what he saw as the complete disregard by top corporate sponsors like P&G, Airbnb, Intel, Visa, and Coca-Cola, for the controversies. "They spend $100 million for every Olympics that they sponsor, and they have frankly shown absolute willful indifference to any type of entreaty to essentially be more vocal about their concerns about human rights in China," he said. Kine also touched on the data privacy fears for athletes as visiting contingents are being told to carry burner phones to avoid security risks.
NFL games continue to be among some of the highest-rated programs on television. In 2021, viewership jumped 10 percent from the previous year to an average of 17.1 million as the league debuted its first 18-week season after running on a 16-week schedule since 1978. Fans — and team owners — welcomed the change with open arms, but a vocal percentage of players were not as ecstatic (despite the union signing off). Those who were against adding games cited health and safety concerns as their main reason. While the extended season means fatter pockets for the league, the opposition asks: is it worth the risk? Cheddar's JD Durkin breaks it all down.
With the Australian Open set to begin on Monday, Novak Djokovic is once again being threatened with deportation from Australia after his visa was briefly reinstated and revoked again over alleged discrepancies. Djokovic’s team will sit for an Immigration hearing on Saturday.
Decorated skier Lindsey Vonn did not hold back when touching on mental health in "Rise," her new memoir. "My mental health is definitely part of my story," she said. "Now I'm just thankful that this conversation is so much more talked about — Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka, Kevin Love, Michael Phelps, all have been outspoken about it." She noted that she felt happy that readers, particularly kids, get to see a vulnerable side to her in the book. The gold medalist also went on to note what she's most looking forward to watching in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
It was 'game on' for sports bettors in the state of New York, as mobile betting kicked off on four major betting operating platforms Saturday. This comes at an exciting time for sports fans with some of the biggest NFL games of the season right around the corner. Cam Rogers - Host of Lock It In with Cam Rogers, Betting Analyst at the Bleav Podcast Network joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Former wide receiver for the New York Giants, Victor Cruz has partnered with Krystal Restaurants, a popular burger chain in the South, to bring the franchise to his home state of New Jersey. Cruz and Alice Crowder, CMO of Krystal Restaurants, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the venture. The five new locations will be known as "Victor Cruz's Krystal," decked out with memorabilia from his football career, with the former player explaining how "hands-on" he plans on being. "You never know, OK? You might walk in and Victor Cruz will be flipping a burger back there, and you might be getting it directly from the source," he said.
Max Bichsel, vice president at Gambling.com Group joins Cheddar News to talk about the growing sports betting industry, New York legalizing mobile betting, and 2022 predictions for the sector.
