The Detroit Tigers Are Taiwanmaxxing
The social team at Detroit found a cheat code to farm Taiwanese engagement on Threads
Meta’s Threads has inadvertently become a distinctly Taiwanese social media platform over the past few years. Sources estimate that Taiwanese users contribute over 20% of global traffic to Threads. Regardless of the real reason behind Thread’s traction in Taiwan, some have described the platform as a “digital neighborhood” for the Taiwanese.
The Detroit Tigers organization has certainly picked up on this pattern.
Shortly after Hao-Yu Lee’s MLB debut in April, the Liberty Times noted that Tigers’ Threads account frequently made posts about Lee and even used Chinese to attract engagement from Taiwanese fans. Ahead of his matchup against fellow Taiwanese Kai-Wei Teng in June, the account adeptly used Chinese to mark the historic occasion.
It helps that Lee has performed incredibly well in the batter’s box over the past two months. As of July 25, he is in an active 10-game hitting streak, slashing .318/.348/.939 in July. These statistics and his clutch performance have earned him not-infrequent features on the Tigers’ and even the official MLB accounts.
Taiwanmaxxing on Threads
However, the difference on Threads is notable. As of this writing, over 50% of posts made by the Tigers account and four of the six posts made by their Spanish account (tigresdedetroit) in the last 24 hours featured Lee. And it is unsurprising looking at the engagement.
Posts featuring Lee generally get over a thousand likes and often reach over 20 thousand, while a typical post without him struggle to reach even a thousand. There are more Lee posts than mentions of two-time Cy Young Award winner and Tigers ace pitcher Tarik Skubal.
The same goes for the MLB account, which has disproportionately featured Lee and even has a pinned post of a recent home run.
An odd thing to note is that the Astros and Red Sox, who are the only other teams that have a Taiwanese player on the active roster, appear to be unaware of or unresponsive to this social media “cheat code.” The Astros have not made a Threads post since mid-March and appear to have a social media strategy that deemphasizes it.
While Taiwanese shortstop Tsung-Che Cheng was featured a couple times, making crucial plays to secure the Red Sox’ historic 14- and 15-straight wins, they were simply short clips of the plays. There are no additional hype posts or highlight reels, even though those would surely amplify engagement from Taiwanese fans, as even the short clips have.
Taiwanese fans feel seen
The amusing case of the Tigers social team that recognizes Taiwanese concentration on Threads has generated news stories in Taiwan. While other organizations may view Threads as a minor platform not worth investing in, the Tigers clearly see the value in the captive audience in Taiwan.
2026 has been a historic year for Taiwanese players in Taiwan. The Tigers’ Hao-Yu Lee and the Astros’ Kai-Wei Teng faced off for the first-ever pitcher-versus-batter matchup between two Taiwanese players in the MLB. Lee, Teng, and the Red Sox’ Tsung-Che Cheng made the starting lineup, the first time in seven years that three Taiwanese players have done so on the same day.
The demand for seeing Taiwanese players thrive internationally has always been overwhelming, yet until this year, that collective desire has never quite been directly addressed. Taiwanese fandom often goes unnoticed or ignored. The Tigers’ recognition and social-savviness have met that demand in a timely way, and to do so on a “Taiwanese” platform has created an “insider” relationship and made targeted engagement more successful and certainly more meaningful.
In that way, the Tigers have contributed to Taiwan’s “digital neighborhood” and made fans across the globe feel seen. The Astros and Red Sox are missing out on this big opportunity.