Some of the most popular sports posts of 2025

In times of turbulence—like, uh, most of 2025—people search for escapes in their favorite pastimes, like watching sports, scrolling social media, or watching sports on social media.

Maybe that’s why this year, the social pages of leagues, teams, and other sports organizations did numbers: One post from MLB saw almost 4 million engagements, a certain legendary NWSL goal was viewed almost 10 million times, and an F1 team’s YouTube video of a seemingly mundane activity got almost 13 million impressions.

Earlier this month, Marketing Brew asked two dozen sports orgs which of their social media posts saw the most views and engagement in 2025. Here’s some of the content that performed the best.

Baseball

Major League Baseball: It’s your birthday

MLB’s top post is a Facebook Reel of a group of young boys celebrating a birthday at a summer Pittsburgh Pirates game, which generated 3.9 million engagements and 88 million views. During the 2025 season, the league put effort into connecting with younger fans.

Seattle Mariners: Relationship goals

The Mariners’ most viewed post of the year (7.2 million) was of baseball legend Ichiro Suzuki giving his wife a shoutout during his jersey retirement ceremony. The team got the most engagement (783,000) on a TikTok of shortstop and second baseman Cole Young calling his family to tell them he’d been called up to the Major League team. And the post with the most overall impressions (12.9 million) was when the team made the American League Championship.

All in all, “this was our best year on social in Mariners history, as we were able to capitalize on some incredible moments,” Tim Walsh, senior director of digital marketing and social media for the team, said in an email.

New York Mets: First rizz

A post of the Rizzler throwing out the first pitch at an April game racked up 215,000 interactions and 2.1 million impressions, making it the Mets’ most engaging post of the year. An in-memoriam post for Mets superfan Seymour Weiner had the most impressions, at 12.6 million. While Weiner was a certified baseball fanatic, the Mets, like many MLB teams, have a number of more casual fans whose fandom team execs are also trying to foster.

Baltimore Orioles: Maximum effort

A Facebook Reel of Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins running and diving to catch a ball got more than 7.7 million impressions, proof that highlights remain a tried-and-true part of sports social.

“Our players are at the heart of what we do, and any time we can showcase their highlights, we want to do that,” Orioles VP of Brand and Content Amanda Ozarowski said in an email.

Hartford Yard Goats: Clap back

The Minor League Baseball team saw the most impressions in a post on X responding to a fan who was less than pleased by a rain delay. After the fan commented that the team hadn’t posted quickly enough to alert people of the delay, the Yard Goats explained that “the social media team was busy pulling the tarp off the field and helping it to be playable.” It got 2.2 million views and plenty of support in the mentions.

“I wasn’t even expecting it to do well,” GM Mike Abramson told us in an email.

Soccer

Major League Soccer: Messi header

The post with the most views for MLS in 2025 was a TikTok of Leo Messi scoring a goal off a diving header, which generated 35 million impressions and 1 million engagements. A TikTok of Son Heung-Min, a forward for Los Angeles FC and captain of the South Korean national team, had slightly more engagements, at 1.2 million.

In addition to player star power, MLS has been banking on celebrities from other areas of entertainment to help hook fans during its 30th season this year.

Charlotte FC: Across the pond

Charlotte FC forward Wilfried Zaha giving Premier League club Crystal Palace FC a shoutout on TikTok for winning the FA Cup was the team’s most engaging post of the year—and of all time, with over 563,000 engagements.

National Women’s Soccer League: Marta mania

A clip posted to Facebook of Brazilian soccer legend Marta, who plays for the Orlando Pride, scoring a goal against several defenders was the most engaging post for the NWSL in 2025, with 430,000 engagements and 9.7 million views. The league started its season with an ad featuring players including Marta, Trinity Rodman, and Sophia Smith, and ended with record viewership for its championship game.

Washington Spirit: What’s my name again?

The Spirit got 2.1 million views and more than 200,000 engagements on a TikTok of their admin asking players what her name was in exchange for a piece of candy, an engagement rate of about 11%.

Liverpool FC: Big day

For Liverpool FC, one day in particular racked up far more engagements than any other: April 27, when the club won its 20th Premier League title. Liverpool saw more than 60 million engagements in that 24-hour period on content across platforms.

Brooklyn FC: Welcome to the team

With 1.8 million views, a post welcoming Croatian national team player Ana Maria Marković to Brooklyn FC was the team’s best performer of the year. The USL Super League team was focused on local marketing in its first season, but has aspirations to one day go global.

Basketball

NBA: SGA MVP

A video of reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander signing autographs for fans ahead of Game 2 of this year’s finals was viewed 111 million times across the league’s socials, including 47 million views on Facebook alone.

Chicago Bulls: Rose-colored

The Bulls’ collab post with the NBA on Instagram announcing plans to retire hometown legend Derrick Rose’s number was the team’s most engaging of all time on that platform, with more than 1.7 million engagements and 24 million impressions. The team has been paying tribute to Rose since making the announcement in January, with next-level reactions from fans online, according to VP of Content Marketing Luka Dukich; a BTS video of Rose learning about the news, he said, was viewed more than 10 million times across platforms.

“​​We have set the standard for how teams can celebrate our alumni while also giving our fans what they deserve,” Dukich said.

New York Liberty: Malala sighting

The Liberty’s top post of 2025 was a TikTok video of author and activist Malala Yousafzai receiving a standing ovation while attending a playoff game, with 719,000 engagements and 8.7 million views.

Liberty Chief Brand Officer Shana Stephenson described the post as capturing “an emotional, unscripted moment,” which she said “performed so well on TikTok because it paired a globally admired figure with the authentic energy of our arena.”

Brooklyn Nets: Something fishy

The Nets saw the most engagement on a TikTok from January of Hall of Famer and former Net Vince Carter highlights set to a “one pound fish” audio clip that was trending at the time. It had 978,000 engagements and 7.5 million views. The team’s most viewed post was a reaction-time test posted to Instagram, where it had 18.1 million views and about 107,000 engagements.

“Both of these moments reflect strategies we’ve been intentional about building—leveraging player personalities and leaning into trends and pop culture,” EVP of Marketing Andrew Karson said in an email. “It’s all part of our broader approach to provide access to Nets’ personalities of past and present and create content that feels timely, shareable, and personal.”

Seattle Storm: Coldplay concert

The Storm got its most views on a video of Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe, and mascot Doppler re-creating that infamous Coldplay concert video, which generated about 2.3 million impressions and about 31,000 engagements. Bird is also featured in the post that saw the most engagement for the Storm this year as well, with about 76,000 engagements. The WNBA Draft has also been a time of major engagement for the team for the past couple of years.

Football

Carolina Panthers: Fan service

A picture of a Panthers fan in a vibrant blue Bryce Young jersey surrounded by Green Bay Packers fans got over 212,000 engagements on X. A video of Keegan-Michael Key virtually dropping in on a Panthers team meeting after running back Rico Dowdle was fined for celebrating a touchdown with a raunchy Key & Peele sketch reference got over 542,000 views on the platform.

Hockey

Professional Women’s Hockey League: Frosty

A post celebrating the Minnesota Frost winning the PWHL’s 2025 Walter Cup Championship totaled more than 1.1 million impressions, more than 37,000 engagements, and about a 13% interaction rate among PWHL followers on Instagram alone. The post got more than 2.1 million impressions across platforms.

A video of Abby Roque of the Montreal Victoire scoring a Michigan goal, known as an especially difficult shot in hockey, topped 39,000 engagements on Instagram.

Racing and motorsports

Williams Racing: Hail a cab

F1 team Williams produced a YouTube video of drivers Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz, team principal James Vowles, and former World Drivers' Champion Jenson Button taking a taxi ride around London ahead of the British Grand Prix that saw almost 13 million impressions, the team’s best performing post of the year.

Other successful posts include a YouTube video documenting Sainz’s first day with Williams and an Instagram Reel of Tom Holland visiting the team’s garage. The team had a good year on the track, too—Sainz scored two podiums—and kicked off the season with a new title sponsor.

Nascar: The climb

Nascar’s best-performing post was a Reel showing off the steep slope of the Talladega Superspeedway, which got more than 40 million views and about 2.5 million engagements. Reels were a significant growth driver for Nascar on social in 2024.

MotoGP: Aura farming

Motorcycle racing series MotoGP had one of its biggest moments of the year on social when rider Marc Marquez met Rayyan Arkan Dikha, the viral sensation dubbed “the world’s coolest kid.” One Instagram Reel of the pair got more than 16 million views and more than 1.3 million interactions. Like many sports organizations, MotoGP has been working to showcase its athletes’ personalities in addition to their skills.

SailGP: New investor just dropped

SailGP, the international sailing competition co-founded in 2018 by Larry Ellison, got the most engagement on an Instagram post announcing that French soccer player Kylian Mbappé was investing in the France SailGP Team. A Reel of the Australian team experiencing a wing collapse was the most-viewed post (40 million), followed closely by a Reel of Team Germany cutting off Team Brazil at the Sydney Grand Prix (about 37 million).

In its most recent season, SailGP’s social views surpassed 1.65 billion total, a 90% increase from last season, according to the organization. Its total follower count climbed 44% in that time, with engagement up 45%.

Pickleball

Major League Pickleball: Major rally

In pro pickleball, the best-performing post for MLP was of a rally between the Utah Black Diamonds and the Orlando Squeeze in the first round of the playoffs that got more than 2.7 million views and more than 115,000 engagements. Pickleball, which originally popped off during the pandemic, has shown some signs of maturation in its sponsorship business in the past year.

PPA Tour: Points in pink

At MLP's sister organization, a similarly impressive rally at the women’s doubles finals of the Walgreens Open at the Las Vegas Strip got about 7.1 million views and more than 137,000 engagements.