The World Series beats NFL competition more often than one might think, but Sunday produced baseball’s biggest win in nearly a decade.
Sunday’s Dodgers-Astros World Series Game 5 had a 12.8 overnight rating on FOX, down 16% from Indians-Cubs last year (15.3) but up 9% from the Royals-Mets clincher in 2015 (11.7).
The 12.8 tied the second-highest overnight for Game 5 of the World Series since Marlins-Yankees in 2003 (15.4) — matching Yankees-Phillies in 2009 and behind only last year.
It also delivered the second-highest World Series overnight on a Sunday since the NFL began scheduling Sunday Night Football opposite the Fall Classic in 2010.
Head-to-head, Game 5 easily topped the competing Steelers-Lions Sunday Night Football game on NBC (9.4). The 36% margin is actually bigger than last year, when Indians-Cubs (15.3) beat Eagles-Cowboys (11.6) by 31%.
It was baseball’s biggest win over SNF since 2008, when Game 7 of the Red Sox-Rays ALCS — on cable — beat a Seahawks-Buccaneers game by 39% (10.0 to 7.2).
Excluding last year, Sunday’s game delivered the highest non-clinching World Series overnight since Rangers-Cardinals Game 6 in 2011 (13.8). The previous high was an 11.0 for Game 2. Prior to last year, no non-clinching game had exceeded a 10.5 since 2011.
The Astros’ high-scoring extra-inning win, which ended after 1 AM ET, peaked with a 14.2 from 11:30-11:45 PM ET. The game averaged a 12.8 after midnight, the same as it averaged before midnight (and obviously, overall).
Local figures for Game 5 were not immediately available. Boston and Hartford were not included in the weekend’s ratings due to inclement weather.
[Wknd. numbers from Fox Sports PR/Twitter 10.30]
