A ho-hum matchup of low-profile teams delivered one of the lower MLB Wild Card ratings.
Wednesday’s Rays-A’s American League Wild Card game averaged a 2.8 rating and 4.54 million viewers across ESPN and ESPN2, marking the least-watched Wild Card game on the ESPN family of networks (six telecasts), and the fourth-least watched overall (16 telecasts).
The only Wild Card games with a smaller audience were Rockies-Diamondbacks two years ago (2.6, 4.40M), Orioles-Blue Jays in 2016 (2.6, 4.20M), and Cardinals-Braves in 2012 — the only afternoon Wild Card game (2.6, 3.99M).
Ratings and viewership declined 26% from A’s-Yankees on TBS last year (3.8, 6.16M) and 33% from Twins-Yankees on ESPN in 2017 (4.2, 6.83M).
Compared to last year’s Wild Card game on ESPN and ESPN2, Rockies-Cubs, ratings fell a third and viewership 35% (4.2, 6.99M).
ESPN’s traditional broadcast averaged a 2.5 and 3.97 million, while ESPN2’s Statcast coverage had a 0.38 and 571,000. Statcast accounted for 13% of the total audience, compared to 9% for Rockies-Cubs last year (661K of 6.993M).
Both of this year’s Wild Card games declined by more than a quarter in ratings and viewership, with Tuesday’s Brewers-Nationals NL game down 31% and 32% respectively.
This year marked the first time that neither Wild Card game cracked a 3.0 rating or five million viewers.
All-time MLB Wild Card ratings, viewership
| Year | AL | NL | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game | Net | Rtg | Vwrs | Game | Net | Rtg | Vwrs | |
| 2019 | TB-OAK | ESPN, ESPN2 |
2.8 | 4.54M | MIL-WSH | TBS | 2.9 | 4.73M |
| 2018 | OAK-NYY | TBS | 3.8 | 6.16M | COL-CHC | ESPN, ESPN2 |
4.2 | 6.99M |
| 2017 | MIN-NYY | ESPN | 4.2 | 6.83M | COL-AZ | TBS | 2.6 | 4.40M |
| 2016 | BAL-TOR | TBS | 2.6 | 4.20M | SF-NYM | ESPN | 4.5 | 7.71M |
| 2015 | HOU-NYY | ESPN | 4.9 | 7.73M | CHC-PIT | TBS | 5.0 | 8.30M |
| 2014 | OAK-KC | TBS | 3.3 | 5.21M | SF-PIT | ESPN | 3.6 | 5.59M |
| 2013 | TB-CLE | TBS | 3.1 | 4.74M | CIN-PIT | TBS | 3.0 | 4.60M |
| 2012 | BAL-TEX | TBS | 3.4 | 5.30M | STL-ATL | TBS | 2.6 | 3.99M |
[Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 10.3]
