After Sunday’s Game 1 earned the worst numbers ever for a League Championship Series game, Monday’s Game 2 between the Cardinals and Brewers sunk to new lows.
Game 2 of the Cardinals/Brewers NLCS earned a mere 1.9 U.S. rating and 3.021 million viewers on TBS Monday night, down 47% in ratings and 48% in viewership from Game 2 of last year’s ALCS on TBS (NYY/TEX: 3.6, 5.831M), and down 35% and 32%, respectively, from Game 2 of the 2009 NLCS on TBS (PHI/LAD: 2.9, 4.429M).
Last year’s Yankees/Rangers game aired on a Saturday afternoon. The 2009 Phillies/Dodgers game aired on a Friday afternoon.
Compared to Game 2 of last year’s NLCS on FOX (SF/PHI: 5.3, 8.835M), Monday’s game was down 64% and 66%, respectively.
Not surprisingly, Game 2 ranks as the lowest rated, least-viewed League Championship Series game in history. The previous lows were a 2.1 rating (STL/MIL G1: 2011) and 3.323 million viewers (COL/ARI G2: 2007).
Keep in mind Monday’s game overlapped with the final innings of Rangers/Tigers Game 2 on FOX for nearly an hour.
Of note, the Cardinals/Brewers series is the smallest market LCS matchup since Reds/Pirates in 1990. The St. Louis and Milwaukee markets combined have fewer television homes than each of the top ten television markets — including Philadelphia and Atlanta, two markets whose teams were eliminated in one form or another by the Cardinals.
Having said that, market size is not the sole determinant of ratings success. In the NBA, last season’s Thunder/Grizzlies second round series featured two TV markets out of the top 40 in Oklahoma City and Memphis, but still never dipped lower than a 2.4 and 3.677 million viewers.
Five Least-Viewed MLB LCS Games
|
Date
|
Time
|
Game
|
Series
|
Net
|
U.S. Rating
|
Viewers (000)
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon., 10/10/11 | 8 PM | STL 12, MIL 3 |
NLCS G2
|
TBS |
1.9
|
3,021
|
| Fri., 10/12/07 | 10 PM | COL 3, ARI 2 |
NLCS G2
|
TBS |
2.2
|
3,323
|
| Sun., 10/9/11 | 4 PM | STL 6, MIL 9 |
NLCS G1
|
TBS |
2.1
|
3,350
|
| Mon., 10/15/07 | 10 PM | ARI 4, COL 6 |
NLCS G4
|
TBS |
2.5
|
3,803
|
| Fri., 10/16/09 | 4 PM | PHI 1, LAD 2 |
NLCS G2
|
TBS |
2.9
|
4,429
|
(This year’s numbers from Turner Sports)
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