Ratings: MLB, WNBA and more

Regional Major League Baseball on FOX (Braves-Mets or White Sox-Reds) averaged a 0.7 rating and 1.28 million viewers last Saturday night, MLB’s smallest primetime audience on broadcast television since 2016 (Rays-Yankees: 1.02M). The game overlapped with a competing Rays-Orioles matchup on FS1, figures for which were unavailable.

In other action, ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball finale (Twins-Cubs) averaged a 0.45 and 740,000 — the least-watched Sunday night game since the 2017 finale (Angels-Astros: 632K).

No other MLB game over the past week cracked the 500,000 viewer mark, with Tuesday’s Yankees-Blue Jays game on ESPN topping the weeknight slate with just 438,000.

Last Sunday’s Sun-Aces WNBA semifinal Game 1 averaged 210,000 viewers, ranking as the most-watched game of the playoffs so far (through Thursday). No other game has cracked the 200,000 mark, compared to five at the same point of last year’s playoffs.

The single-elimination second round of the playoffs averaged 149,000 viewers September 17, up 12% from last year. First round numbers were previously reported here. The regular season averaged 205,000 viewers across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC (37 telecasts), down 16% from last year (246K).

The Tour de France, which concluded last weekend, averaged 399,000 viewers across NBC Sports’ TV and digital platforms — up 11% from last year (359K) and the tournament’s highest average since 2010. … Last Saturday’s Club America-Chivas Liga MX El Super Clasico averaged 1.6 million viewers across Univision and TUDN and topped that day’s Stanley Cup Final Game 1 and U.S. Open third round in adults 18-49. … Last Saturday’s Orlando-North Carolina NWSL match averaged a 0.26 rating and 495,000 viewers on CBS, the league’s third-largest audience in its history. The first and final games of this summer’s NWSL Challenge Cup hold the top spots.