Major League Baseball postseason enters the dream World Series matching the most-watched League Championship Series in seven years.
The two series averaged 5.35 million viewers across Fox, FS1 and TBS, the highest since 2017, according to Nielsen.
Game 1 of the NLCS between the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers on Oct. 13 drew a combined 20.6 million viewers in the U.S. and Japan, according to MLB.
An average of 12.1 million people in Japan made it the second-most watched MLB postseason game in the nation’s history. The most-watched Oct. 11 episode drew an estimated 12.9 million for the Dodgers’ 2-0 win over the San Diego Padres. The decisive fifth game of the National League Division Series.
Fox and FS1 averaged 5.62 million for the NLCS, with the Dodgers winning in six games. It was the network’s most-watched championship series since 2019.
The ALCS between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Cavaliers on TBS averaged 4.9 million. The Yankees are 5 games into their first World Series since 2009 5-2 win in 10 inningsaveraged 5.6 million, a 33% increase from Game 5 of last year’s ALCS between the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers.
Friday’s first World Series game between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers averaged 3.96 million for the postseason, up 5% from last year.
The first Fall Classic between the Dodgers and Yankees in 43 years should be a boost after last year’s least-watched World Series. The five-game series between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks averaged 9.11 million. Game 3 set a World Series record with 8.13 million viewers.
The 2018 series between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers averaged 14.1 million. Fox and MLB would be happy if the Chicago Cubs averaged 22.9 million in 2016 when they beat Cleveland in seven games for their first championship since 1908.
“I think we’re looking at at least a five-year high.” I think we may be at an eight-year high. If we did, it would be a nice surprise,” said Mike Mulvihill, Fox’s president of insights and analytics. “When you think about the history of Fox baseball, we thought it would be amazing if Boston won the World Series. It happened. And you think, what if the Cubs win the World Series one day? Then it happened. It’s the last thing we’ve ever had, and now we have closure.”
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