Despite some hand-wringing over NFL competition, Sunday night was good to Major League Baseball once again this year.
Game 4 of the Red Sox/Cardinals World Series drew a 9.4 final rating and 16.0 million viewers on FOX Sunday night, up 6% in ratings and 3% in viewership from the clinching Giants/Tigers Game 4 last year (8.9, 15.5M), and up 2% and 6%, respectively, from Cardinals/Rangers Game 4 in 2011 (9.2, 15.2M).
The game ranks as the highest rated and most-viewed of the World Series, easily topping the previous high of 8.6 and 14.4 million for Game 1. Since the World Series began the current scheduling format in 2007, the Sunday night Game 4 has been the highest rated game in all-but-two years — 2011, when Cardinals/Rangers went seven games, and 2008 — when Game 5 of Phillies/Rays stretched across two nights.
Game 4 had the third-highest rating and viewership for any World Series game since 2009, behind only Games 6 and 7 of Cardinals/Rangers in 2011. Those three games are the only baseball telecasts of any kind to earn at least 16 million viewers over that span. The next-best results were also for Sunday night games — Game 4 of Cardinals/Rangers in 2011 had a 9.2 rating, and Game 4 of Giants/Rangers in 2010 had 15.5 million viewers.
While head-to-head competition with “Sunday Night Football” can hurt ratings for the World Series, that is mitigated by the strong lead-ins that NFL games provide. Sunday’s Game 4 had a huge lead-in from the NFL national window on FOX, which earned a 17.5 overnight (final ratings were not available).
Despite the strong numbers, Game 4 was still far closer to the record-low levels of recent years than to previous World Series to involve the Red Sox. The last time the Red Sox played in the World Series (2007), Game 4 against the Rockies drew a 12.6 final rating and 20.9 million viewers. The last time the Red Sox played the Cardinals (2004), Game 4 drew an 18.2 and 28.8 million. Of course, an enormous caveat is that those two games were series-clinchers — and the 2004 game marked the Red Sox’ first title in 86 games.
Through Game 4, the Red Sox/Cardinals World Series has averaged an 8.4 rating and 14.0 million viewers — up 11% in ratings and 10% in viewership from last year’s four-game Giants/Tigers sweep (7.6, 12.7M), and up 2% and 4%, respectively, from Cardinals/Rangers in 2011 (8.2, 13.5M). The series ranks as the highest rated since 2009 and the most-viewed since 2010, but also ranks as the fifth-lowest rated and fourth-least viewed World Series ever through four games.
(Game 4 numbers from Fox Sports Media Group)
