Major League Baseball not only hyped up Paul Skenes' big league debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates but also his girlfriend, Olivia Dunne, who was there to support him on Saturday.
A new era entered Pittsburgh on Saturday, and it wasn’t just Paul Skenes making a fine debut for the Pirates.
His girlfriend, social media sensation and LSU gymnast Olivia "Livvy" Dunne, also entered her "WAG era," which stands for "wives and girlfriends."
MLB hyped up Dunne’s arrival to PNC Park on Saturday just as much as Skenes with a post on the league’s TikTok page, showing Dunne’s excitement for her boyfriend’s debut in an interview with SportsNet Pittsburgh.
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MLB captioned the post, "Livvy Dunne entering her MLB WAG era."
"I always say, it’s way harder to be the person in the stands watching because I’m not in control," Dunne said in the post. "I can’t control — I don’t know how to throw a 100 mile (per hour) fastball, but it’s hard to have no control. Especially with gymnastics when you’re just watching. But I know he’s got this and I just have a lot of confidence in him."
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The sports world saw what the NFL did with pop star Taylor Swift when her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs superstar tight end Travis Kelce went public. And while Dunne’s popularity isn’t even close to Swift’s, MLB could be taking a page out of the NFL’s book and lean into appealing to a new demographic.
Dunne, who is coming off an NCAA national championship with LSU’s gymnastics team, is one of the nation’s highest-paid NIL athletes in college sports. She has more than 13.3 million followers between TikTok, Instagram and Twitter, and they’ve all been watching her pages closely to see if there were any hints to Skenes getting called up.
Skenes, the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s MLB Draft out of LSU, was dominating Triple-A Indianapolis over his first seven starts this season. Because of that, Pirates fans were clamoring for the front office to make the call to bring him to the bigs.
The call was finally made this past week, with Dunne revealing that they’d just woke up from a nap to missed calls from the Pirates saying he needed to pack his stuff and head to Pittsburgh.
Skenes’ long-awaited debut certainly had more than Dunne nervous as Pirates fans packed PNC Park to watch him face the Chicago Cubs. He didn’t disappoint, striking out his first two batters with a fastball that topped out at 102 mph on the day. Skenes would hit 100 mph with his heater 17 times total throughout the four innings he pitched.
"I have so many amazing memories with him, but I know how hard he has worked for this moment," Dunne said in the interview. "Seriously, there’s nothing that can top this. I’m just so proud."
As long as Skenes remains in MLB, Dunne will be right there supporting him. So, don’t be surprised to see more Dunne content from the league’s socials coming our way.
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