Twitter Canada previews the 2017 Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) are the most followed Canadian professional sports team on Twitter and with good reason. The team enjoyed deep playoff runs in 2015 and 2016 featuring massive moments from superstars Jose Bautista (@JoeyBats19) and Josh Donaldson (@BringerOfRain20) and Marcus Stroman (@mstrooo6).

The team is poised and primed for 2017 with returning favourites and some new faces. Here is a snapshot of the #BlueJays on Twitter and how they match up as the 2017 Major League Baseball season gets underway.

The #BlueJays enter the 2017 season as baseball’s second most followed team on Twitter, trailing only divisional rivals the New York Yankees (@Yankees). The #BlueJays gained 320,000+ new followers during the 2016 regular season and 250,000+ more during this past offseason.

Look for the #BlueJays to become the first Canadian professional sports team to cross 2,000,000 followers early in the 2017 regular season.

Here are the Top 5 most followed teams in Major League Baseball:

1. New York Yankees (@Yankees)
2. Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays)
3. Chicago Cubs (@Cubs)
4. Boston Red Sox (@RedSox)
5. Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies)

Here are the Top 5 most followed professional sports teams in Canada:

1. Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays)
2. Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs)
3. Toronto Raptors (@Raptors)
4. Montreal Canadiens (@CanadiensMTL)
5. Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks)

#LetRise will be the #BlueJays official hashtag in 2017. In 2015, the team used #ComeTogether and in 2016, #OurMoment. These hashtags were mentioned 1,200,000+ times each during the past two seasons as fans, media and players joined the Twitter conversation and celebrated top plays and memories. Look for #LetRise to trend regularly during the 2017 season.

Here are the 2016 #BlueJays memories that received the highest volume of #BlueJays Tweets:

1. October 5, 2016: #BlueJays defeat Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) in the American League Wild Card Game (#ALWildCard) on a walk-off home run from Edwin Encarnacion (@Encadwin)
2. October 9, 2016: #BlueJays defeat Texas Rangers (@Rangers) in Game 3 of the American League Division Series (#ALDS) to advance to the American League Championship Series (#ALCS)
3. July 8, 2016: Fans vote #BlueJays outfielder Michael Saunders into the 2016 MLB All-Star Game (#MLBAllStar) via social media
4. October 8, 2016: #BlueJays defeat Cleveland Indians (@Indians) in Game 4 of the #ALCS
5. April 3, 2016: #BlueJays defeat the Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) on opening night of the 2016 #MLB season

The #BlueJays have a number of new faces joining the team for 2017 including DH Kendrys Morales, OF/1B Steve Pearce (@WayneTwentyOcho) and relief pitchers J.P. Howell (@100jphowell) and Joe Smith (@JSThree8).

Also new for 2017, veteran #BlueJays outfielder Ezequiel Carrera‏ (@zekecarrera3) is now on Twitter, having joined the service during the offseason.

Morales was the team’s most mentioned newcomer during 2107 Spring Training while Josh Donaldson was the mentioned Blue Jay during Spring Training overall.

Here are the Top 5 most followed players on the 2017 #BlueJays roster heading into the 2017 season:

1. Jose Bautista (@JoeyBats19)
2. Josh Donaldson (@BringerOfRain20)
3. Marcus Stroman (@mstrooo6)
4. Russell Martin (@russellmartin55)
5. Kevin Pillar (@KPILLAR4)

Bautista is also one of a handful of MLB superstars who have 1,000,000+ followers, having crossed that milestone in April 2016.

Here is a summary of all active MLB players with 1,000,000+ Twitter followers heading into the 2017 season:

• Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (@MikeTrout)
• Yu Darvish, Texas Rangers (@faridyu)
• David Price, Boston Red Sox (@DAVIDprice24)
• Masahiro Tanaka, New York Yankees (@t_masahiro18)
• Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays (@JoeyBats19)
• Adrian Gonzalez, Los Angeles Dodgers (@Adrian_ElTitan)
• Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers (@MiguelCabrera)
• Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds (@DatDudeBP)

Keep tabs on Twitter for the best @BlueJays video highlights, game data and fan reactions during the 2017 Major League Baseball regular season.