Thanks to an extra off-day, extra innings, and a pair of rainouts, the Yankees-Guardians ALDS never returned to the ratings heights of Game 1.
Tuesday’s rescheduled Guardians-Yankees American League Division Series Game 5 averaged 4.95 million viewers on TBS, down from last year’s lone LDS Game 5, which aired in primetime (Dodgers-Giants: ~6.5M). This year’s game was also set to air in primetime until a Monday rainout that pushed the start to Tuesday afternoon.
Game 5 was the second of the series to be bumped from primetime due to rain. Game 2, which was set for last Thursday night, averaged a 1.9 and 3.19 million the following afternoon. Had there been no scheduled off-day between Game 1 and 2, it is likely neither rainout would have occurred and the series would have had two additional primetime games.
Even the games that were played as scheduled were not aired as such. Saturday’s Game 3 aired on TBS for only 44 minutes after the preceding Astros-Mariners Game 3 went 18 innings. The TBS portion averaged 3.29 million viewers, with the bulk of the contest at 2.21 million on TNT. Combined, the game averaged a series-low 2.38 million across TNT and TBS.
Outside of Game 1, the only game of the series that stayed on its original date and network was Sunday’s Game 4 — which aired opposite the NFL and averaged a 2.5 rating and 4.78 million viewers. None of the series’ final four games averaged as many viewers as Game 1 (5.35M), but it still accounted for the three largest audiences of the Division Series, with Game 1 first, Game 5 second and Game 4 third.
As for the other series, the aforementioned 18-inning Astros-Mariners Game 3 averaged a series-high 2.0 rating and 4.09 million viewers on TBS Saturday — the most-watched LDS Game 3 since Red Sox-Yankees in 2018 (4.41M). Game 2 last Friday had a 1.6 and 2.71 million.
The full ALDS averaged 3.8 million viewers on TBS, up 54% from last year’s ALDS on FS1 and MLB Network. A comparison to last year’s NLDS on TBS was not immediately available.
Shifting to the National League, Division Series games on FOX and FS1 averaged 3.3 million — the most-watched LDS on Fox since 2017, with the caveat that games aired on the FOX broadcast network for the first time since 2006.
Last Friday’s Dodgers-Padres Game 3 averaged a 2.1 and 4.07 million on FS1 — the network’s most-watched LDS game since 2017 (Yankees-Indians: 4.4, 7.26M) — with Saturday’s rain-delayed Game 4 clincher at a 1.5 and 3.04 million. Braves-Phillies Game 4 drew a 1.5 and 2.79 million earlier Saturday, with Game 3 on Friday at a 1.55 and 2.91 million.
The Phillies-Padres NLCS began Tuesday night with a 2.3 and 4.10 million on FS1, down a tick in ratings and double-digits in viewership from Dodgers-Braves on TBS last year (2.4, ~4.7M) and the third-smallest audience on record for an LCS opener. Astros-Rays opened with around 2.1 million opposite Sunday Night Football and the NBA Finals two years ago; Cardinals-Brewers opened with 3.35 million on an NFL Sunday in 2011.
(Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 10.19, ShowBuzz Daily 10.19)
