Perhaps even more than the Yankees, the Cubs are baseball’s best bet for blockbuster television ratings.
Wednesday’s Cubs/Pirates National League Wild Card Game earned a 5.0 final rating and 8.3 million viewers on TBS, up 39% in ratings and 48% in viewership from Giants/Pirates on ESPN last year (3.6, 5.6M) and up 61% and 75%, respectively, from Rays/Indians on TBS in 2013 (3.1, 4.7M).
Compared to last year’s Athletics/Royals A.L. Wild Card Game on TBS, which aired on a Tuesday night, ratings and viewership increased by 52% and 59%, respectively, from a 3.3 and 5.2 million.
The Cubs’ win ranks as the highest rated and most-watched MLB telecast on cable since Game 5 of the 2011 Cardinals/Phillies NLDS (5.1, 8.4M), topping the previous highs of 4.9 and 7.6 million for Astros/Yankees on ESPN one day earlier. It also ranks as the MLB’s top one-game playoff dating back to 2000 (12 telecasts), again topping the previous marks held by Astros/Yankees.
Among adults 18-49, the game had a 2.6 rating — up 73% from last year on ESPN (1.5).
Overall, the 2015 MLB Wild Card games averaged 7.9 million viewers across ESPN and TBS, up 48% from last year (5.4M) and easily the most-watched edition of the round since it began in 2012.
(Wed. numbers from Turner Sports, twitter.com/mlb_pr)
