It is not quite the dream scenario — that would have required a Red Sox win — but MLB Postseason ratings continue to benefit from a made-for-TV draw.
Saturday’s Cubs-Dodgers NLCS Game 1 had 6.4 million viewers on TBS, up 8% from the same matchup on FS1 last year (5.9M) but down 19% from Cubs-Mets on TBS in 2015 (7.9M). Ratings were not immediately available.
Compared to last year’s LCS Game 1 on TBS, Blue Jays-Indians in the American League, viewership surged 56% from 4.1 million.
The Dodgers’ win, which peaked with 7.5 million viewers from 9:45-10 PM ET, delivered the fourth-largest audience of the postseason, behind three winner-take-all games — Yankees-Indians Game 5 (7.3M) and Cubs-Nationals Game 5 (7.0M) in the Division Series and Twins-Yankees in the A.L. Wild Card (6.8M).
Shifting to the ALCS, Yankees-Astros Game 2 had 6.2 million viewers on FOX earlier Saturday — up 138% from Blue Jays-Indians on TBS last year (2.6M), up 134% from Blue Jays-Royals on FS1 in 2015 (2.7M), and the most-watched LCS day game since Rangers-Tigers Game 2 in 2011 (6.6M).
Compared to last year’s LCS Game 2 on Fox Sports, viewership fell 15% from Dodgers-Cubs Game 2 on FS1, which aired on a Sunday night (7.3M). It also declined 5% from the last LCS game to air on the FOX broadcast network, Blue Jays-Royals Game 1 on a Friday night two years ago (6.5M).
Viewership comfortably topped the Yankees’ previous ALCS Game 2, against Detroit in 2012, which had 4.2 million on a Sunday afternoon. It also topped their Game 2 against Texas in 2010, which had 5.8 million on a Saturday afternoon. Those games aired on TBS.
Including Spanish-language viewership on Fox Deportes and the streaming audience on Fox Sports GO, Game 2 had 6.4 million viewers. Saturday’s game had a larger TV audience than Friday’s Game 1 on FS1 (6.22M vs. 6.16M) but a smaller overall audience (6.40M vs. 6.45M) — an indication that fewer viewers will stream games that are available on broadcast.
Locally, Game 2 had a 14.2 rating in Houston, down 51% from the Astros last LCS Game 2 in 2005, which aired in primetime on FOX (28.9). New York turned in a 12.1 rating, up 25% from the Yankees’ previous ALCS in 2012 (9.7). As for the NLCS, Game 1 had an 18.1 in Chicago — down 13% from last year (20.9) and down 12% from 2015 (20.6) — and an 11.0 in L.A. (+29%).
[Sat. numbers from Turner Sports, Fox Sports PR/Twitter 10.15, Houston Chronicle‘s David Barron/Twitter 10.15]
