Game 5 of the rain-soaked 2008 World Series was suspended in the sixth inning on Monday night.
The game, tied at 2, will be resumed Tuesday night at 8 PM on FOX. It is unclear how the suspension will affect the ratings; in July, FOX was allowed by Nielsen to split the 15-inning MLB All Star Game into two programs and have them count separately in the ratings.
Earlier this year, NBC drew a 7.5 rating for coverage of the final round of golf’s U.S. Open on a Sunday, and a 6.7 for coverage of the Tiger Woods/Rocco Mediate playoff on the following afternoon. In September, rain forced the Andy Murray/Rafael Nadal semifinal at the tennis U.S. Open to be played on Saturday and Sunday. CBS drew a 1.8 rating for the Saturday portion of the match, and a 3.0 for the Sunday portion.
More than likely, the ratings for the first six and a half innings on Monday night will be counted separately from the numbers for the rest of the game on Tuesday. It is unknown whether the numbers from both nights will be factored into the World Series average rating.
Clearly, while the Phillies/Rays World Series likely would have set record low ratings no matter what (the numbers for Games 1, 2 and 4 are evidence of that), the low ratings have been severely exacerbated by the weather dealys that have plagued the series.
