Modern baseball romance has a recurring first chapter: somebody slides into somebody’s DMs. PEOPLE’s World Series roundup of MLB stars dating or married to celebrities reads like a playbook of direct messages, blind dates and chance meetings — proof that even a power couple usually starts with one brave message.
The DM That Changed Vanessa Hudgens’ Life
The boldest opener belongs to Vanessa Hudgens. After meeting former shortstop Cole Tucker in a Zoom meditation group in 2020, the High School Musical actress messaged him herself. “He’s just kind of perfect for me,” she said on The Drew Barrymore Show. “If I want something or someone, I’m going after them … I fully just slid into his DMs and was like, ‘Hey, it was nice to meet you.’ So I think there is no shame in making the first move.” There was not: an engagement announced in Paris in February 2023, a Tulum wedding that December officiated by Jay Shetty, a son in July 2024 and a daughter in November 2025.
(Erik Drost / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0))A Movie, a Message and a Big Sur Proposal
Kiké Hernández ran the same play in reverse. Watching Hot Tub Time Machine 2 in 2015, the future three-time World Series champion looked up actress Mariana Vicente — a former Miss Universe Puerto Rico — messaged his congratulations, and had a first date arranged two months later. “He found me on social media and sent a message congratulating me on my performance,” she told Inside Weddings. His July 2017 proposal in Big Sur came with a caption for the ages: “I’m going to marry the woman of my dreams!!!!!!” They married in Puerto Rico on Dec. 8, 2018, and are now parents to Penélope Isabel and Santiago José.
The Violinist and the Shortstop
Francisco Lindor’s story began with a photograph. The five-time All-Star saw violinist Katia Reguero on Instagram while she was studying music at St. Mary’s University in 2019 and reached out. “There is this stereotype that athletes maybe don’t have as much depth and that was just something that I immediately loved about him,” Katia — now a podcast host on The Unaparent — said on PEOPLE’s Wag World in July 2026. “He was honest and really open.” Three children later — Kalina Zoé, Amapola Chloé and Koa Amani — she played the national anthem on violin at Citi Field before his game.
(Ian D’Andrea / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0))Set Up by a Teammate, Sealed at LSU
Not every story needs Wi-Fi. Dansby Swanson met soccer star Mallory the old-fashioned way: a blind date arranged in 2017 by his Braves teammate Jace Peterson, her brother-in-law. The soccer star and the shortstop wed in an “enchanted forest” ceremony in Georgia on Dec. 10, 2022, and welcomed daughter Josie James in November 2025. Paul Skenes and gymnast Livvy Dunne needed only a campus: at LSU, his roommate dated her friend. “Just a small-world type of thing,” Skenes told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — before Dunne’s June 2023 TikTok in his jersey told the world anyway.
Commercial Chemistry and a Storybook Goodbye
The most cinematic meet-cute predates the DM era. Justin Verlander met Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model Kate Upton filming an MLB 2K12 commercial in 2013; their 2017 Tuscany wedding came days after his Astros World Series win. “It was a very special moment. It was pretty storybook,” he told PEOPLE. The storybook closed gently on Sept. 26, when the retired ace left the mound for the final time with Upton, Genevieve and Bellamy beside him — while Cody Bellinger and Chase Carter, together since 2020, wrote their own version with a Chicago proposal, two daughters and a shared worldview: “We kind of see life the same.”
(Ian D’Andrea from Philadelphia, PA / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0))Storybook, by the Bride’s Own Review
Verlander’s account of the 2017 wedding deserves its own chapter in the genre. The ceremony came just days after he had won the World Series with Houston — a trade, a title and a wedding compressed into a single autumn. “It was a very special moment. It was pretty storybook. The moment the gates opened and I saw her walking down the aisle, I lost it. She looked so beautiful, and I had been looking forward to that day for a long time,” he told PEOPLE in March 2018. “All the emotions came to me, and it was everything I had imagined it would be and more.” Daughter Genevieve arrived on Nov. 7, 2018; son Bellamy Brooks followed on June 19, 2025. And when Verlander walked off a mound for the final time on Sept. 26, Upton and both children were on the field with him — the commercial-set meet-cute of 2013 completing its arc in front of a stadium.
Three Kids Later, an Anthem
The Lindor story has the genre’s best second act. The couple welcomed Kalina Zoé on Nov. 4, 2020, married on Dec. 16, 2021, at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami, then added Amapola Chloé in June 2023 and Koa Amani in March 2025. Then, during Hispanic Heritage Night at Citi Field, Katia stepped in front of her husband’s home crowd and performed the national anthem on violin before he took the field for the Mets — the photograph that started everything, answered by a performance. “There is this stereotype that athletes maybe don’t have as much depth,” she reflected, “and that was just something that I immediately loved about him.”
The Private Ones
And then there is Shohei Ohtani, who kept even his wife’s name secret when he announced his 2024 marriage to former professional basketball player Mamiko Tanaka. Two children and one famous dog, Decoy, later, the most private couple in baseball may also be its happiest — no DMs required, at least none we will ever hear about.