As usual, Opening Day of the Major League Baseball season was a ratings boon in several markets.
Monday’s White Sox/Royals Major League Baseball game drew an 11.7 rating on Fox Sports Kansas City, up 89% from last year’s opener (6.2) and the network’s highest rating ever for a Royals Opening Day game. The previous record was last year’s comparably modest 6.2.
Overall, the Royals’ blowout win was the highest rated non-primetime game on FSKC in the 14 seasons it has aired coverage (1997-2002, 2008-present), and the fifth-highest rated regardless of timeslot.
Ratings also hit record levels in San Diego, where the Padres’ loss to the Dodgers drew a 5.4 rating on Fox Sports San Diego — up 34% from last year and the highest for any game in the four seasons the network has aired coverage.
Two of baseball’s beleaguered markets also generated multi-year highs, if not record ratings. The Marlins’ opener against the Braves drew a 2.6 on FS Florida, up 35% from last year and the highest since 2011. The Astros, now on Root Sports after two years on Comcast SportsNet Houston, earned a 2.4 for their opener against the Indians — the highest rated game locally since April 2012.
Other success stories include the Braves, whose aforementioned game against the Marlins earned a 3.3 rating on SportSouth — up 54% from last year. The Mariners scored a 6.5 for their opener against the Angels on Root Sports, up 3%. The Reds’ win over the Pirates drew an 18.6 rating on Fox Sports Ohio and CBS affiliate WKRC, the networks’ third-highest for a Reds game.
Even the Dodgers, who had well-documented struggles on Time Warner Cable SportsNet last season, got off to a better start. Their game against the Padres drew a 0.8 rating on the network, up 25% from last year.
(Nielsen; additional info from Royals press release via koamtv.com)
