The official start of the 2013 MLB postseason attracted solid numbers on Turner Sports.
Tuesday’s Reds/Pirates National League Wild Card game earned a 3.0 U.S. rating and 4.6 million viewers on TBS, according to Nielsen fast-nationals, up 15% in ratings and viewership from last year’s Cardinals/Braves NL Wild Card game (2.6, 4.0M).
Keep in mind the Cardinals/Braves game aired at 5 PM ET on a Friday afternoon. Last year’s primetime Wild Card game between the Orioles and Rangers earned a 3.4 and 5.3 million viewers.
Monday’s game earned a 33.7 rating in Pittsburgh, the highest on record for a Major League Baseball game in the market. To put that in perspective, the Penguins’ highest local rating on record was a 42.2 for Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final.
The game also had a 16.6 rating in Cincinnati.
On Monday night, the Rays/Rangers American League tiebreaker drew 2.9 million viewers — down 55% from the Twins/Tigers tiebreaker in 2009 (6.5M), and down 29% from the Twins/White Sox tiebreaker in 2008 (4.2M).
(This year’s numbers from Turner Sports, The Futon Critic)
