It has become as much a part of the professional athlete lifestyle as signing autographs or lifting weights: A pitcher coughs up a lead, returns to his locker, checks his social media accounts, and spots a direct message from a user less than pleased with the results.With the proliferation of legal gambling and the convenient access social media platforms can provide, athletes are hearing more than ever from those who tie their checking accounts to their performance.This spring, we asked 100 major leaguers across 23 teams for their response to a simple, but very modern, question. The players were granted anonymity to speak candidly on a variety of topics.“Is anyone going to answer no to this?” posed a National League pitcher. “Even if you’re not on social media, people find you.”An AL hitter predicted 95 percent would say yes.He wasn’t too far off.Of the 100 players who answered, 81 revealed they had been confronted or contacted by a disgruntled fan over the outcome of an outing.It’s developed into an almost universal experience for players as prop bets and parlays have become part of the fabric of any broadcast or ballpark experience. MLB has partnerships with an array of gambling outfits, including DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM. Teams have their own arrangements, too. And now prediction markets have entered the picture, with Polymarket partnering with the league and Kalshi striking agreements with a growing number of teams, including five more this week.It’s common now for broadcasters to weave betting lines or parlay suggestions into their narration. It’s impossible to survey the scene at a ballpark and not spot an ad offering a tempting bonus if you enroll and make your first bet. The players who have no direct say in these corporate alliances are the ones who ultimately determine each bettor’s fate — and they are the ones receiving the backlash.Many of those who replied “no” said that was only because they removed the direct line of communication to the bettors. Some avoid social media. Some ignore their DMs.Others have taken the initiative to prevent such interactions. An NL hitter said he triggered an Instagram setting that prohibits people from messaging him unless he starts the conversation. An NL pitcher has certain betting-related words filtered from his messages.That’s not foolproof, though.“If your social media is private,” said an NL pitcher, “they’ll find your family members.”“You get used to it,” said an AL pitcher, “but when they start talking about your family, that’s taking it too far.”