The World Baseball Classic is picking up steam as it reaches its conclusion.
Tuesday’s United States-Japan World Baseball Classic semifinal had a 0.9 final rating and 1.4 million viewers on MLB Network, up 200% in ratings and 199% in viewership from Dominican Republic-Netherlands in 2013 (0.3, 485K) but down 53% and 48% respectively from Japan-United States in 2009, which aired on ESPN in its Sunday Night Baseball window (1.9, 2.8M).
The U.S. win delivered the largest audience in MLB Network history outside of the MLB Postseason, topping the previous high of 977,000 for the team’s loss to the Dominican Republic during this year’s group play. Including the MLB Postseason, it ranks seventh all-time on MLB Network (dates back to 2009).
Head-to-head, U.S.-Japan topped both games of an NBA doubleheader on ESPN, Bulls-Raptors (0.7, 1.1M) and Spurs-T’Wolves (0.8, 1.2M). It also topped both NBA games in adults 18-49 (0.52 to 0.40/0.49).
The positive momentum is not limited to U.S. games. The other semifinal, Puerto Rico-Netherlands on Monday night, pulled a 0.4 and 651,000 — up a tick and 31% respectively from Puerto Rico-Japan in 2013 (0.3, 498K).
CORRECTION 3/23: In previous version of post, comparisons to 2013 were one night off.
