MLB Postseason ratings were a mixed bag on a packed day in sports.
Tuesday’s Astros-Yankees ALCS Game 4 earned 4.7 million viewers on FS1, up 73% from Indians-Blue Jays on TBS last year (2.7M) and up 82% from Royals-Blue Jays on FS1 in 2015 (2.6M). Ratings were not immediately available.
Compared to last year’s LCS Game 4 on FS1, Cubs-Dodgers in the National League, viewership fell 19% from 5.8 million. Keep in mind that game aired in primetime.
The Yankees’ series-tying win delivered the largest ALCS Game 4 audience since Red Sox-Tigers on the FOX broadcast network in 2013 (8.1M). It was also the most-watched weekday afternoon LCS game since Red Sox-Tigers Game 3 in ’13 (5.6M).
Including streaming viewership on Fox Sports GO and the Spanish-language audience on Fox Deportes, it had 5.0 million.
Shifting to the National League, Dodgers-Cubs Game 3 had 6.0 million viewers — down 8% from the same matchup on FS1 last year (6.5M) and down 35% from Mets-Cubs on TBS in 2015 (9.2M).
The Dodgers’ win, which peaked with 7.4 million viewers from 9:45-10 PM ET, was the most-watched sporting event of the day, topping the competing Celtics-Cavaliers NBA Opening Night game on TNT (5.6M). In adults 18-49, its 1.8 rating ranked fifth for the night behind both NBA games and NBC’s “The Voice” (2.2) and “This is Us” (2.9).
Game 3 had an 18.5 rating in Chicago, down 9% from last year (20.4) and down 26% from 2015 (25.1). Los Angeles delivered a 14.4 (+23%), the highest for a Dodgers game in the market since at least 1998.
As for the ALCS, Game 4 had a 13.0 in New York City — up a whopping 49% from their last LCS Game 4 against Detroit in 2012 (8.7). That game, which had an earlier afternoon timeslot, saw the Yankees swept out of the playoffs. It had a 12.4 rating in Houston. Local ratings for the Astros’ previous LCS Game 4 were not available.
[Tue. numbers from Fox Sports PR/Twitter 10.18, Turner Sports]
