Ratings: National MLB, Mets & Yankees, Boxing

Yankees-Angels scored a 1.4 rating and 2.2 million viewers on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball last weekend, down 13% in ratings and 11% in viewership from last year (Cubs-Red Sox: 1.6, 2.5M) and down a tick and 10% respectively from 2016 (Yankees-Red Sox: 1.5, 2.4M). All five Sunday Night Baseball windows this season have declined.

Despite the drop, the Yankees’ win was the highest rated and most-watched baseball game of the season — topping Giants-Dodgers on Opening Night (1.2, 2.0M).

The previous night, the same matchup pulled a 0.49 and 788,000 on FS1 — up 53% in ratings and 52% in viewership from last year (Angels-Rangers: 0.32, 520K) and that network’s most-watched game of the season.

In other action, Yankees-Astros drew a 0.48 and 740,000 (+79%) on ESPN Wednesday night and Rockies-Cubs a 0.38 and 558,000 (+7%) on Monday.

Through April, YES Network has averaged a 3.71 rating for Yankees games in the New York market — up 9% from last year (3.39) and its highest average at this point of the season since 2012. Meanwhile, SNY averaged a 3.12 for Mets games last month, down 10% from last year (3.46) but still the team’s second-highest April average on the network.

Premier Boxing Champions delivered a 0.6 rating and 839,000 viewers on FOX last Saturday, flat in ratings and down 5% in viewership from the series’ previous appearance on FOX last July (0.6, 886K). It was the least-watched primetime fight card on broadcast television in at least a decade.

In a similar timeslot Saturday night, ESPN carried a Top Rank Boxing card that had a 0.49 rating and 701,000 viewers. While the PBC came out ahead overall, Top Rank had a slightly higher rating in adults 18-49 (0.20 to 0.18).