Baseball’s biggest national TV draws delivered solid numbers on Sunday Night Baseball.
Yankees-Cubs earned a 1.8 overnight rating on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball last night, up 20% from Red Sox-Yankees last year (1.5). The 18-inning marathon averaged a 2.0 overnight through the first nine innings and still maintained a 1.2 in the final quarter-hour from 2-2:15 AM ET.
The Yankees’ win earned the highest MLB overnight on ESPN since Cubs-Cardinals on Opening Night (2.3) and topped the previous week’s Cubs-Red Sox Sunday nighter (1.7).
Locally, the game delivered a 5.5 rating in Chicago and a 5.1 in New York City.
On FOX the previous day, the same matchup delivered a 1.5 overnight — tied as the fifth-lowest ever for a primetime MLB window on broadcast television. The telecast faced onerous competition from an NHL game that had a Kentucky Derby lead-in (2.8) and an NBA game involving the Golden State Warriors (4.2).
(Wknd. numbers from ESPN, Sports Business Daily 5.8)
