MLB Postseason: Cards/Giants Game 7 Low, Beaten Soundly By “MNF”

Posted by | 10/23/2012 at 12:57 pm

Even taking into account the tough competition, Monday’s Game 7 of the National League Championship Series earned extremely low numbers on FOX.

Game 7 of the Cardinals/Giants National League Championship Series drew a 5.9 overnight rating, down 41% from Red Sox/Rays Game 7 on TBS in 2008 (10.0), and down 56% from Indians/Red Sox Game 7 on FOX in 2007 (13.5).

The 5.9 also marks a 52% decline from the most recent NLCS Game 7, Cardinals/Mets on FOX in 2006 (12.4).

Monday’s game will almost certainly finish as the lowest rated Game 7 of a League Championship Series.

Game 7 was hurt by a variety of factors, not the least of which was competition from the presidential debate on various networks and the Lions/Bears “Monday Night Football” game on ESPN. The debate clearly had an impact, as Monday’s overnight peaked at a 6.9 from 8:30 to the start of the debate at 9 PM.

“Monday Night Football” also had a major impact on the numbers. The overnight rating for Lions/Bears — on cable — (7.3) was 24% higher than the 5.9 for Game 7.

The previous two Game 7 telecasts also aired opposite NFL coverage (“Sunday Night Football” on NBC) but won both head-to-head battles. In 2008, Red Sox/Rays topped Seahawks/Buccaneers by 39% (10.0 to 7.2). In 2007, Indians/Red Sox beat Steelers/Broncos by 44% (13.5 to 9.4).

Also contributing to the low numbers is the fact that Cardinals/Giants was simply a mediocre draw. The only year-over-year increases for the series benefited from built-in advantages (two Sunday night games were up from Saturday night games a year ago, and Friday’s primetime Game 5 was up from an afternoon Game 5 last year).

Locally, Game 7 earned a 31.8 rating in St. Louis and a 27.5 in the Bay Area.

(Monday’s numbers from Sports Business Daily)

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  • Jeffrey

    I never thought I would see the day when Major League Baseball would begin to become a second-tier television sport. But if this trend of seriously declining viewership continues (record-low ratings virtually every year for the crown jewels), that’s exactly what the sport is looking at. I could easily see All-Star Game ratings in the 4′s or 5′s, LCS ratings about the same, and World Series ratings never reaching double-digits again unless there is a Game 7. The only saving grace is that MLB is a great local tv attraction all summer long in many, many markets. Regional sports, like the NHL, which really is a second-tier sport (when they are actually playing).

  • bignasty96

    The biggest problem was that it was 7-0 after 3. By the time the debate & football started, the game was basically over.

  • travis y

    Baseball obviously a real problem drawing a national level when the big markets aren’t involved. Though, they just got their rights fees doubled by fox, espn and tbs…so even with these numbers, selig is laughing to the bank. 

  • Rich S.

    How have the ALCS/NLCS series compared to the last NBA conference finals?

    • Paulsen

      Poorly. The Spurs/Thunder West Finals on TNT averaged a 5.0 rating compared to a 3.8 for the Tigers/Yankees ALCS on TBS.

      Tough to make a comparison between Cards/Giants on FOX and the NBA, since there are no NBA conference final games on broadcast. Safe to say, however, that the NLCS was nowhere close to the Celtics/Heat East Finals on ESPN.

  • Tom

    You people are ridiculous this game would of drawn much better if it was remotely close. Also, Spurs/Thunder went 6 games… while the Yankees/Tigers series was never close  

  • ZabriskiePt

    There are several factors that are driving this part of this year’s Postseason ratings down:
     - The Presidential and VP debates. They’ve been a tough competition for a number of games during this Playoffs. Except the first Presidential debate, all other three telecasts have gone against Baseball.
     - Thursday Night Football. As if College Saturday, the whole Sunday, and Monday Night weren’t enough, now there’s a strong sport competitor in a once action-free evening, too.
     - A too lopsided NLCS Game 7. The Game was almost done before the beginning of the Presidential debate and the start of MNF.
     - A short Yankees Series. If the ALCS had gone 6 or 7, numbers would have been much more respectable. If you add that half of the ALCS has been broadcasted during the afternoon, things may find a reasonable explanation.

    Basketball has had much better numbers than Baseball in recent years, and the NBA deserves it because of the good job made at promoting its best stars. But it must be noticed that Basketball has enjoyed several years with Conference Finals, and then the NBA Finals, featuring some of its most famous stars in intriguing matchups between very popular teams, too.
    Do you really think that 2 Conference Finals like, for example, Charlotte Bobcats vs.Toronto Raptors and Minnesota T’wolves vs. New Orleans Hornets, would draw better numbers than MLB’s LCS featuring Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox? I don’t think so. It very much depends on what’s the matchup, and how deep the Series goes.
    That said, the numbers for this year’s NLCS Game 6 and 7 are really bad, even though for the latter there are some mitigating circumstances, as cleared before.