Airing in the earliest timeslot for a weekday MLB postseason game in four years, Wednesday’s Rangers/Twins Game 1 was not a very big draw.
The Rangers’ Game 1 win over the Rays drew a 1.6 U.S. rating and 2.244 million viewers on TBS Wednesday afternoon, according to Nielsen fast-nationals. The game began at 1:30 PM ET, the earliest start for any weekday MLB playoff game since ’06.
Rangers/Rays was down 20% in ratings and 19% in viewership from both last year (COL/PHI G1: 2.0, 2.758 mil) and 2008 (MIL/PHI G1: 2.0, 2.764 mil). Both of those games aired in later timeslots.
This marks the second-lowest rated, second-least viewed MLB postseason game ever on TBS, ahead of only Phillies/Brewers Game 4 in 2008 (1.5, 2.220 mil). That game aired at 1 PM ET on a Sunday.
Locally, the game drew a 9.6 rating in Tampa-St. Petersburg and just a 5.9 in Dallas-Ft. Worth.
Overall, TBS averaged a 3.0 U.S. rating and 4.6 million viewers for Wednesday’s MLB playoff tripleheader, down 9% in ratings and 6% in viewership from the first day of last year’s postseason (3.3, 4.9 mil).
(Turner Sports)
