The shortest League Championship Series in eight years held up about as well as one could expect in the ratings.
Fox Sports averaged 4.66 million viewers for the five-game Phillies-Padres NLCS, down from last year’s Braves-Dodgers NLCS on TBS (~5.2M) and Astros-Red Sox ALCS on Fox Sports (~4.8M), both of which went six games. The five-game average is the highest for a Fox Sports LCS since Astros-Yankees in ’19, edging last year’s ALCS (4.65M) and cruising past the neutral-site Dodgers-Braves series two years ago (3.46M), with the caveat that all comparisons to the latter year come with an asterisk.
Saturday’s Game 4 on the FOX broadcast network averaged a series-high 2.9 and 5.74 million, the most-watched LCS Game 4 in three years (2019 Astros-Yankees: 5.86M) and the most-watched NLCS Game 4 in six (2016 Cubs-Dodgers: 5.83M).
Game 5 the following afternoon was a different story with an LCS-low 1.8 and 3.61 million on FS1, down sharply from last year’s primetime Braves-Dodgers Game 5 on TBS. Rounding out the weekend NLCS slate, Game 3 last Friday night scored a 2.6 and 4.88 million.
Shifting to the American League, a series average for the Astros-Yankees ALCS was not immediately available, but Sunday’s rain-delayed, clinching Game 4 drew a 2.6 and 4.67 million — up from Astros-Red Sox last year (2.4, ~4.1M).
Game 3 on Saturday chipped in a 2.3 and 4.66 million, also up from Astros-Red Sox a year ago (2.0, ~3.5M). Overall, three of the four Astros-Yankees game outpaced last year.
Comparisons to prior Astros-Yankees series are less favorable. Of the 18 total Astros-Yankees playoff games, Games 3 and 4 rank as the second and third-least watched — ahead of only the Tuesday afternoon Game 3 of their 2019 ALCS (3.84M).
A full average for the LCS was not immediately available. Going back a round, the Division Series finished with an average of 3.45 million viewers, up 21% from last year (2.88M) and the highest average since 2017.
(Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 10.25, Fox Sports PR 10.25)
