A blowout and NFL competition helped sink ratings for Game 7 of the ALCS to a near-historic low.
Monday’s Rangers-Astros ALCS Game 7 averaged a 3.5 rating and 6.77 million viewers across FOX and FS1 (6.92M across all Fox platforms), topping only Astros-Rays in the 2020 “bubble” (2.3 4.60M) as the lowest rated and least-watched LCS Game 7 on record. No other LCS Game 7 has averaged fewer than a 4.1 or 7.41 million, the figures for Dodgers-Brewers on FS1 alone in 2018.
The previous LCS Game 7 on Fox Sports, Braves-Dodgers in the aforementioned 2020 “bubble,” averaged a 5.2 and 9.96 million across FOX and FS1 — but that game aired on a Sunday night with a direct lead-in from the NFL.
Notably, this year’s Game 7 was not even the most-watched game of the Rangers-Astros series. Game 1, which aired on a Sunday night with an NFL lead-in, averaged 7.02 million on FOX.
The Rangers’ blowout win was trounced head-to-head by NFL Monday Night Football. 49ers-Vikings averaged a combined 10.1 rating and 18.61 million viewers across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. It was the only the fourth LCS Game 7 to air opposite an NFL game, and the third to do so without aid of an NFL lead-in.
Earlier Monday, Diamondbacks-Phillies Game 6 averaged a 2.5 and 4.67 million across TBS (4.60M) and truTV (76K) — topping only the two game sixes in the 2020 “bubble” (Astros-Rays: 3.53M; Braves-Dodgers: 4.41M) as the least-watched LCS Game 6 on record. Keep in mind it was the first weekday afternoon Game 6 since Astros-Cardinals in 2004 (10.26M).
Rangers-Astros Game 6 fared no better Sunday night, averaging a 2.4 and 4.77 million on FS1. The previous game sixes in 2021 were both comfortably higher: Red Sox-Astros on a Friday night (3.0, 5.99M) and Dodgers-Braves on a Saturday night (3.5, 7.15M).
The full, seven-game ALCS averaged 5.05 million viewers on FOX, down from last year’s four-game Astros-Yankees series on TBS (5.15M) but the most-watched LCS on the Fox Sports networks since the six-game Astros-Yankees in 2019 (5.85M)
In other action, Saturday’s Phillies-Diamondbacks Game 5 averaged a 2.2 and 4.70 million across TBS and truTV — up 26% in ratings and 30% in viewership from Padres-Phillies on an NFL Sunday last year (1.8, 3.61M). Game 4 scored a series-high Friday with a 2.7 and 5.45 million, though those figures were actually down from last year’s Padres-Phillies Game 4 on the FOX broadcast network (2.9, 5.74M).
Rounding out the recent slate, the Friday evening Astros-Rangers Game 5 averaged a 2.1 and 4.22 million — up from the previous ALCS Game 5 in 2021 (2.0, 3.58M).
