A revamped schedule put a damper on MLB’s Opening Week ratings.
The scheduling change resulted in steep declines for ESPN’s Opening Day coverage, as previously noted, including the smallest Opening Night audience in at least a decade.
As for the rest of the week, Giants-Dodgers scored a 1.1 rating and 1.9 million viewers in the season premiere of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. Last year’s SNB opener took place on Opening Day (Cubs-Cardinals: 2.1, 3.6M).
The Dodgers’ blowout win nearly matched the teams’ Opening Night matchup three nights earlier (1.2, 2.0M).
Earlier in the afternoon, ESPN scored a 0.4 rating and 648,000 for Cardinals-Mets. Last year’s comparable window (Yankees-Rays) had 1.3 million, but again that was Opening Day.
Shifting to the workweek, Orioles-Astros had a 0.49 rating and 730,000 viewers on ESPN Monday night (-36%), while Indians-Angels had 199,000 on ESPN2 (-40%). On Tuesday, a rescheduled Rays-Yankees game scored 507,000 (-19%) and another Indians-Angels matchup 392,000, both on ESPN.
Over on Fox Sports 1, Wednesday’s Cardinals-Brewers game had 560,000 viewers — down 3% from last year (Yankees-Rays: 578K) but up 51% from the network’s comparable midweek game in 2016 (Rangers-Angels: 371K).
FS1 also pulled 268,000 for Brewers-Padres and 225,000 for Astros-Rangers last Saturday; there were no comparable windows last year.
