Prior to the 2012 baseball season I collected a set of social media metrics to measure social engagement across all 30 MLB teams. The San Francisco Giants, who made it to the World Series happen to be the most engaged team in April. The Detroit Tigers held an honorable 5th place position behind both LA teams and the Texas Rangers. Impressive seasons for the Tigers and Giants, and post season wins was reflected in their social profiles. While both teams increased Facebook and Twitter fans, the Tigers roared their way to social media greatness.

Baseball is filled with statistics, such as HBP, LOB, RISP; and social introduces a few new variables. Let’s take a look at some of the numbers. As expected, pre and post-season social fan volume increased for both teams. The Giants began their season with 1.35M fans and the Tigers were 50K shy of the million fan mark. The Giants and Tigers increased their fan volume by 16% and 17% respectively during the 2012 season. Another interesting stat is PTAT (People Talking About This) which is measured by the ratio of Facebook fans to comments in Facebook discussions. Intuitively, both the AL and NL champs significantly increased their PTAT index. San Francisco began the season with a PTAT index of 4.5 and are presently at 19.4. The Tigers, however, which began the season with an index of 3.15, now account for a PTAT index of 30.6; nearly 10 times their April 2012 score.

Twitter fan volume also increased significantly for both World Series teams. As you can see in the table below, San Francisco increased their Twitter fan base by 42.5%. The Tigers, nevertheless, who began their season with a humble 55K Twitter fans, increased their count by over 220% to nearly 180,000 fans.

Surely, having the Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera being the first player since 1967 to earn a Triple Crown, amplified Detroit’s social engagement. Game-time social promotions such as “Tweet your Seat” also engage fans throughout the season while at the ballpark with giveaways. Though Twitter was founded in San Francisco, this year, the Tigers definitely grabbed the platform and ran with it. When it comes to social media they’re essentially batting a thousand! My official pick is Tigers in 6, what’s your prediction?