After ending last season with the largest Major League Baseball audience in 25 years, the Cubs opened the new season with the top Opening Night audience in nine.
Cubs-Cardinals delivered a 2.1 rating and 3.6 million viewers in Sunday’s MLB Opening Night on ESPN, per Nielsen fast-nationals — up 17% in ratings and 25% in viewership from Mets-Royals last year (1.8, 2.9M) and up a tick and 8% respectively from the same Cardinals-Cubs matchup in 2015, which aired on ESPN2 (2.0, 3.4M).
The Cardinals’ win ranks as the most-watched MLB Opening Night game since Braves-Nationals in 2008 (3.66M to 3.62M) and the most-watched MLB regular season game on the ESPN family of networks since Yankees-Red Sox in 2011 (4.7M).
The 2.1 rating is also the highest for any regular season MLB telecast — regardless of network — since regional action on FOX in July 2013 (2.2).
Figures do not include the streaming audience of 91,000 viewers on WatchESPN, an Opening Night record on the streaming platform. With those viewers included, the game had an audience of 3.7 million.
Ratings and viewership were not immediately available for Sunday’s two other games, Yankees-Rays on ESPN and Giants-Diamondbacks on ESPN2.
(Wknd. numbers from ESPN)
