After a so-so start on Saturday, the National League Championship Series rebounded on Sunday.
Game 2 of the Dodgers/Cubs NLCS earned 7.3 million viewers on Fox Sports 1 Sunday night, per Nielsen fast-nationals — up 11% from Cubs/Mets on TBS last year (6.6M), up 67% from Giants/Cardinals on FS1 in 2014 (4.4M) and the most-watched Game 2 of an LCS since Tigers/Red Sox on the FOX broadcast network in 2013 (8.3M). Ratings were not immediately available.
Compared to Game 2 last year’s ALCS on FS1, viewership increased 174% from 2.7 million for Blue Jays/Royals on a Saturday afternoon.
The Dodgers’ win, which peaked at 8.3 million from 10:30-10:45 PM ET, ranks as the most-watched program in the history of Fox Sports 1, including its days as Speed Channel. The previous high was 6.4 million for Cubs/Giants Game 4 last Tuesday. The Cubs’ postseason run has generated four of the five largest audiences ever on FS1.
Figures do not include Spanish-language viewership on Fox Deportes, which had 291,000 viewers — its largest audience for an LCS game. The network peaked at 391,000 from 10:30-10:45 PM.
Notably, Sunday’s game was not the most-watched of the postseason. That distinction still belongs to the Giants/Mets N.L. Wild Card, which had 7.4 million on ESPN.
Through two games, the NLCS has averaged 6.5 million viewers on FS1 — down 10% from Cubs/Mets on TBS last year (7.2M) but 40% from Giants/Cardinals in 2014 (4.7M). Compared to last year’s ALCS, the two-game average is up 43% from 4.6 million.
(Sun. numbers from Fox Sports)
