After the most-watched Division Series in seven years, Major League Baseball repeated the feat in the League Championship Series.
The Major League Baseball League Championship Series averaged a 2.6 rating and 5.35 million viewers across Fox Sports and TNT Sports, down a tick in ratings but up 3% in viewership from last year, when both series went seven games (2.7, 5.19M) and the highest average for the round since 2017 (6.41M).
The six-game Dodgers-Mets NLCS averaged a 2.7 and 5.63 million across FOX and FS1, down a tick in ratings but up 5% in viewership from last year’s seven-game Diamondbacks-Phillies series (2.8, 5.34M) and up 10% and 21% respectively from the five-game Phillies-Padres on Fox Sports in 2022 (2.5, 4.66M). Compared to last year’s Fox Sports LCS, the seven-game Rangers-Astros series, ratings increased 3% and viewership 11% from a 2.6 and 5.04 million.
Sunday’s Game 6 averaged a 2.8 and 6.27 million on FS1 (6.8M including Fox Deportes and streaming), marking the network’s largest audience — of any kind — since Game 6 of the 2019 Astros-Yankees ALCS (7.56M).
The Dodgers’ win, which peaked with 6.97 million viewers during the 9 PM ET quarter-hour, was also the most-watched LCS Game 6 since Dodgers-Braves on TBS three years ago (7.15M), comfortably topping both of last year’s games — Diamondbacks-Phillies on TBS (2.5, 4.67M) and Rangers-Astros in the same Sunday night window on FS1 (2.4, 4.77M).
Los Angeles led all markets with a 12.4 rating and 38 share. On a competitive night in New York, the Mets’ defeat drew an 8.6 and 22. San Diego was the top neutral market with a 6.7/22, with Hartford (4.5/12) and Philadelphia (4.4/12) rounding out the top five.
Shifting to the ALCS, the Yankees five-game win over the Guardians averaged a 2.5 and 4.99 million on TBS and truTV — down 4% in ratings and 1% in viewership from Rangers-Astros last year and down 11% and 3% respectively from the Yankees’ previous LCS, a four-game loss to Houston two years ago (2.8, 5.15M). Compared to last year’s LCS on TBS, the aforementioned seven-game Diamondbacks-Phillies, ratings fell 9% and viewership 7%.
Saturday’s clinching Game 5 averaged a 2.7 and 5.73 million on TBS and truTV (6.12M including UniMás), up a third in ratings and 36% in viewership from Astros-Rangers Game 5 last year (2.1, 4.22M) and the most-watched LCS Game 5 since Red Sox-Astros in 2018 (6.57M). Compared to last year’s Phillies-Diamondbacks Game 5 on TBS, ratings increased 23% from a 2.2 and viewership 22% from 4.70 million.
Friday’s Game 4 drew a 2.6 and 5.29 million (5.68M including UniMás), up 37% and 44% respectively from Astros-Rangers last year (1.9, 3.66M) and up 2% and 13% respectively from the clinching Astros-Yankees Game 4 in ’22 (2.6, 4.67M). Compared to last year’s Phillies-Diamondbacks Game 4 on TBS, which aired in the same Friday night window, ratings actually declined 5% and viewership 3% from a 2.7 and 5.45 million.
Earlier in the day, Dodgers-Mets Game 5 had a 2.0 and 4.32 million on FS1 — down 11% in ratings and 8% in viewership from last year’s aforementioned Phillies-Diamondbacks Game 5 on TBS but up 12% and 20% respectively from the Sunday afternoon Padres-Phillies clincher on FS1 in 2022 (1.8, 3.61M). Versus Astros-Rangers in the same year-ago window, ratings fell a tick but viewership increased 2%.
