FirstPitch
A pre-game companion for casual MLB fans that turns any matchup into a plain-English preview — who has the edge, which pitcher style beats tonight's lineup, and what one stat actually swings the game — so you know what to watch before first pitch.
Casual-to-mid baseball fans who want to actually understand tonight's game without reading three stat-head articles
- One-paragraph 'why this game matters' briefing generated from current form, splits, and venue effects
- Pitcher-vs-lineup matchup cheat sheet that explains why a sinker-heavy pitcher like Logan Webb frustrates ground-ball hitters
- Three 'watch for this' moments flagged per game (e.g., bullpen leverage, hot bat, defensive shift), delivered as push notifications at key innings
- Post-game one-liner recap you can drop into group chats without watching
Mid-season Rockies–Giants series with a red-hot Logan Webb (0.71 June ERA) vs. a Coors-Field-friendly lineup is exactly the kind of stat-dense game casual fans bounce off of — the search surge around this specific matchup shows fans want narrative, not just box scores.
Matchup-specific trend is real but narrow — Giants/Rockies is one game in a 162-game season, and the MLB app, Covers, and Baseball Savant already surface daily previews to casual fans, suggesting broad but shallow interest rather than a dedicated-product pull.MLB Matchups 2026 - Today's Baseball Previews, Scores, & Schedules ↗Baseball Savant Game Preview | baseballsavant.com ↗
Crowded field of free incumbents — MLB App, Baseball Savant previews, Ballpark Pal, FanGraphs, and Covers already cover daily matchups; the plain-English angle is a thin wedge since stat-head sites and even the MLB app offer narrative elements.Ballpark Pal | Daily MLB Park Factors, Game Simulations, and Player ... ↗FanGraphs Baseball | Baseball Statistics and Analysis ↗
Casual fans are notoriously hard to convert — MLB.com and Covers give previews for free, Stathead charges ~$9/mo but for hardcore users; willingness to pay $5–10/mo for a single game-narrative app is unproven and the unit economics are tight given a 6-month season.Best Baseball Analytics Software | Ranked for 2026 ↗MLB App | MLB.com ↗
MLB plays daily April–October indefinitely and narrative interest is perennial, but the product is tied to a single league's season cadence and could struggle to retain users in the offseason or expand beyond MLB without rebuilding.
MLB Stats API is public and free, LLM narrative generation is straightforward, and scoping to one game per day keeps the engineering modest; real-time lineup/injury feeds and avoiding stale data add moderate but not blocking complexity.