These days, you can’t swing a baseball bat without hitting yet another app. Apps are everywhere, and have infiltrated every aspect of our work and leisure time. Not even sports are immune to app mania, so, in the spirit of “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,” here’s a sampling of sports-oriented apps that help you get the most out of your sports experiences.

Unless otherwise stated, you can find the iOS versions via iTunes and the Android versions on GooglePlay. The apps are all free, but most have premium versions that do cost money.

Sports apps help you exercise your inner hardcore fan.

Let’s Play Tennis

Love to play tennis but can’t seem to find a partner? Don’t despair! With the Let’s Play Tennis app (available only online, no mobile app yet), you can search for a tennis partner based on location, age, and skill level.

ESPN SportsCenter (Android and iOS)

ESPN is the first and last name in sports, so this app is a must-have. You get game updates and scoring information for the games of the day, plus news stories and other information on teams that you are keen on following.

FIFA (Android and iOS)

Everyone has World Cup fever these days, so this app is thoroughly appropriate. You want soccer (or if you insist and you’re not American, football) news? You get the news, league standings, national team rankings, and oh yeah, there’s that World Cup event that just might bear mentioning as well.

Yahoo Fantasy Football (Android and iOS)

Don’t be fooled by the name; you have access to not just football, but fantasy baseball, basketball, and hockey too! If you’re into fantasy sports, you need this app, especially since it will give you easy access to your fantasy teams all the time, and sometimes, timing is everything. Manage your roster, pick up waiver players, conduct trades, participate in drafts, and set up your rosters. The app lets you easily switch between leagues (for those times when more than one fantasy sport is in full swing), as well as see news about your players, and of course, the ever so important aspect of fantasy sports: trash-talking the competition!

MLB.com At Bat Lite (Android and iOS)

This is the official mobile app for America’s Favorite Pastime, with score info, news, standings, and a lot more. You can customize the app based on your favorite team, of course. The pay version ($19.99) includes a load more features, including watching the free MLB.TV game of the day, listening to home and away game broadcasts, and expanded instant replay, to name a few.

NHL GameCenter (Android and iOS)

Perhaps hockey is your game of choice. Get live scores and player stats, post-game video highlights, full season schedule and standings, and customized game alerts. The app also lets you customize up to five favorite teams. If you pay for the upgraded version ($9.99), you get in-game video highlights, live radio broadcasts, and more.

NFL Mobile (Android and iOS)

Are you ready for some football? You have access to news, scores, customized team news, video highlights, and fantasy team management, all in one convenient app. If you happen to be a Verizon customer you can upgrade to Premium for a $5 monthly fee, and get access to NFL RedZone on Sunday afternoons and LIVE NFL games on Thursday, Sunday and Monday nights during the preseason and regular season.

NBA Game Time (Android and iOS)

Let’s not forget basketball! This official NBA app has game recap videos and alerts, live streaming of press conferences, team rosters and stats, and even a notification for when a game gets exciting at crunch time. Of course, you have the option of upgrading, which means no ads, home and away radio broadcasts, and more video highlights. But no, there’s no game simulation called “Where will LeBron end up next?” Maybe next year.

NASCAR Race Mobile App(Android and iOS)

Let’s put aside the argument about whether NASCAR is a sport or not and instead focus on this app, which gives track info, the year’s schedule, and drivers’ pages. The app also provides a fully-interactive 3D virtual version of all the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. Naturally, there’s a premium version that costs $39.99.

Of course, this is only a small sample size. There’s a ton more out there, waiting for you to download. And if you have an Android smart phone and want to text your fellow sports fans about the latest games and trades, check out these free texting apps.