2008 was a record setting year in Major League Baseball, but not in a good way.
Ratings for Major League Baseball sank to record lows in 2008. Regular season games on FOX averaged a 2.0 rating, the lowest average ever for regular season games on broadcast. The ALCS and NLCS were the second and third least viewed League Championship Series ever, with the NLCS finishing as the least viewed LCS ever on broadcast.
To top things off, ratings for the World Series plunged to the lowest levels in history. Even though the Phillies/Rays World Series was expected to draw record low ratings, the depth to which the numbers fell was surprising. None of the five games in the series drew a double-digit rating. Game 2 drew a mere 8.1, at that point the second-lowest rating ever for a World Series game. Game 3, delayed until 10 PM on a Saturday night due to rain, broke the record by drawing a 6.1.
Overall, the World Series averaged an 8.4 rating on FOX, down 21% from 2007, and off 17% from the previous record low of 10.1 set during the 2006 series. The World Series, the crown jewel of America’s pastime, had a lower rating than the NBA Finals, the final round of The Masters, the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, the Daytona 500, the BCS and the Final Four.
Not a single baseball game drew a double-digit rating in the year 2008.
What does this mean for Bud Selig? Nothing fatal; the NBA and NHL bounced back from record lows in 2007 to draw strong ratings in 2008. One positive sign for MLB going forward is the possible resurgence of the biggest draw in the sport, the New York Yankees. It is no surprise that the record low ratings set this year coincided with the Yankees missing the playoffs for the first time since 1993. With the Yankees making several big name free agent signings during the offseason, there is every possibility the team could make a deep playoff run in 2009. The presence of the Yankees in the playoffs, and potentially in the World Series, would go a long way to improving the ratings for Major League Baseball games.
Off the field, it was a fairly uneventful year. While the aftermath of the Mitchell Report led to intense coverage in the first two months of the year, it was barely talked about during the season. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, the subjects of intense media scrutiny in 2007 and through the early part of this year, were virtually forgotten by the All Star Break.
The same cannot be said for next year. Bonds goes on trial for perjury in March, and Clemens is currently under investigation for possible perjury. There is little doubt that the two former stars will be the centers of attention in the baseball world at some point next year.
MLB can look back at 2008 as the year when the Fall Classic fell back to the pack. While its easy to isolate the low ratings as being due to one bad matchup, keep in mind that the World Series has drawn record low ratings five times this decade. While America may hate the New York Yankees, their presence in the playoffs next year could be just what the doctor ordered to juice the ratings.
