A matchup of the nation’s top two television markets delivered the largest LCS Game 1 audience since another matchup of the nation’s top two television markets.
Sunday’s Mets-Dodgers National League Championship Series Game 1 averaged a 4.0 rating and 8.26 million viewers on FOX (8.5M including Fox Deportes and streaming), marking the largest LCS Game 1 audience since 2009, when Angels-Yankees opened with 8.44 million in a Saturday night window on FOX.
The Dodgers’ blowout win, which peaked with 10.08 million during the 8:15 PM ET quarter-hour, was also the most-watched NLCS Game 1 since Cardinals-Mets on FOX in 2006 (8.51M). The previous high over that span was 7.89 million for Cubs-Mets in 2015, a figure that would likely have surpassed this year had out-of-home viewing been tracked in Nielsen estimates back then.
Overall, Mets-Dodgers ranks as the fourth-most watched LCS Game 1 dating back to the 2006 season, behind Angels-Yankees in ’09, Cardinals-Mets in ’06 and Tigers-Athletics that same year (8.59M). (Going back further brings back some considerably stronger audiences, though a few openers in those years aired as part of split-national windows and are thus not comparable.)
Largest LCS Game 1 audiences (2006-present)
Game 1 more-than-doubled last year’s Diamondbacks-Phillies NLCS opener on TBS and truTV (2.0, 3.83M) and increased 10% and 18% respectively from last year’s Rangers-Astros ALCS Game 1 on FOX, which like this year’s game aired in a post-NFL Sunday night window (3.7, 7.02M).
Monday’s Game 2 averaged 5.52 million across FOX and FS1 (5.63M including Fox Deportes and streaming), the largest audience for a weekday afternoon LCS game since 2013 and up 6% from last year’s primetime NLCS Game 2 on TBS and truTV (5.20M). The Mets’ win, which peaked with 7.35 million in the 7:15 PM ET quarter-hour, also increased 26% from last year’s Rangers-Astros ALCS Game 2 in the same weekday afternoon window (4.37M).
The two-game average for the NLCS is 6.74 million, the highest at this point of any LCS since Cubs-Mets on TBS in 2015.
Los Angeles led all markets Sunday with a 12.9 rating and 42 share, followed by New York at a 7.3/20. (The Mets had to compete with a Giants Sunday Night Football game.) San Diego — whose Padres were eliminated by the Dodgers on Friday night — placed third at a 5.8/20. Philadelphia, whose Phillies were eliminated by the Mets, ranked fifth (5.0/13).
New York topped the charts on Monday with an 8.5/28. Los Angeles, where the game started at 1 PM local time, turned in a 7.8/40. San Diego again ranked third (4.8/27).
