The only Division Series to go the distance is also easily the most-watched of the four.
The first four games of the Giants-Dodgers National League Division Series delivered the four largest audiences of the LDS: 5.15 million for Game 4 Tuesday night, 3.98 million for Game 1, 3.84 million for Game 2 and 3.55 million for Game 3, all on TBS. The series-high audience in Game 4 ranks as the largest for a non-clinching Division Series game since the opener of Yankees-Red Sox in 2018 (5.57M).
Viewership for each of the four games has increased double-digits over the equivalent window in 2019, rising 39% in Game 4 (vs. Astros-Rays Game 4: 3.70M), 34% in Game 3 (vs. Yankees-Twins Game 3: 2.66M), 52% in Game 2 (vs. Rays-Astros Game 2: 2.53M) and 31% in Game 1 (vs. Nationals-Dodgers Game 2: 3.04M). The increase in ratings has been more modest, with the first two games up 6 and 28 percent respectively (ratings for Games 3 and 4 were not immediately available).
Keep in mind Giants-Dodgers pits the teams with the two best records in Major League Baseball in the first-ever postseason series between 105+ win teams.
As for the other Division Series, Monday’s clinching Rays-Red Sox Game 4 was the best of the rest with 3.30 million viewers on FS1 — down 9% from Dodgers-Nationals in ’19 (3.61M). All four games of the series declined from the equivalent 2019 window. Game 3 the previous day drew a 1.2 rating and 2.04 million on MLB Network, the sixth-largest audience in network history, but down 27% and 23% respectively from 2019 on TBS (Braves-Cardinals: 1.6, 2.65M).
Game 2 last Friday drew a 1.4 (-26%) and 2.62 million (-22%) and Game 1, as previously reported, drew a 1.5 (-25%) and 2.63 million (-22%).
Brewers-Braves topped out at 3.07 million for Tuesday’s Game 4 on TBS, with no comparable window in 2019. The previous day’s Game 3 drew a series-low 1.51 million, actually up 57% from the comparable 2019 game, which aired on MLB Network (Astros-Rays: 958K). It was the only LDS game outside of Giants-Dodgers to post an increase over 2019.
Game 2 on Saturday drew a 1.3 rating (-10%) and 2.24 million viewers (-3%) and Game 1 a 1.2 (-21%) and 2.09 million (-11%) on Friday.
Easily the weakest draw of the Division Series, not a single game of Astros-White Sox cracked the two million viewer mark. Tuesday’s rescheduled Game 4 drew 1.75 million on FS1; there was no comparable 2019 window.
Game 3 averaged a 1.0 rating and series-high 1.98 million viewers on FS1 Sunday night — down 46% and 41% respectively from 2019 on TBS (Dodgers-Nationals: 1.9, 3.34M) — and Game 2 a series-low 0.9 (-3%) and 1.32 million (-5%) on MLB Network last Friday. Game 1 drew a 1.1 (-48%) and 1.97 million (-44%), as previously noted.
* Comparisons to last year’s postseason are not particularly useful due to the strange scheduling format wherein each Division Series was played over consecutive days. For example, Monday’s Rays-Red Sox Game 4 declined 11% from the comparable window on day five of last year’s postseason, but that was the deciding Game 5 of Yankees-Rays (3.72M).
