With MLB Ratings On An Upswing, World Series Will Be A Dream Matchup

Heading into the 2024 World Series, the average audience for Major League Baseball’s postseason, across all three rounds, had averaged 3.95 million viewers, a year-over-year increase of +5% The interest in this year’s playoffs have been driven by large market franchises, classic rivalries, close contests and marquee players.

This trend will continue with the 2024 World Series involving two storied franchises; the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees. It will mark the first time in 43 years the World Series will have teams from the two largest markets. Also, for only the fifth time since 1995, both World Series teams had finished the regular season with the best record in their league. The Series will be headlined by Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, leading candidates to be voted Most Valuable Player in their respective leagues. (In fact, a record five former MVP’s will be playing in the Series.) Game 1 is scheduled for Friday, October 25. from Dodger Stadium.

Wild Card: The nine-game wild card round involving eight teams, aired across the Disney owned ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. Collectively, this year’s wild card games averaged 2.82 million viewers, a +25% increase from the 2023 games and was the most watched wild card games to date. Seven of the nine games averaged more viewers than the corresponding game of 2023. The three-game match-up between the New York Mets and Milwaukee was the top-rated series. The dramatic third and final game, won by the Mets, averaged 4.17 million viewers. The Mets have played in the five most watched wild card games to date, three in 2022 and two in 2024.

League Division Series: The four division round series averaged 3.56 million viewers on Fox, FS1 and WBD’s TNT Sports, a 14% increase from last year. The audience was the highest since 2017. Helping to fuel the ratings growth was three of the four matchups were among division rivals. Also, the series featured several popular teams playing from large television markets. Sports Media Watch notes 13 of the 18 games involved either the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees or New York Mets. Also, in a first, all four LDS series had been tied after the first two games. The LDS began in 1995.

This season, the two National League matchups (New York Mets vs. Philadelphia and Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Diego), aired on Fox and FSI. Collectively, the nine games delivered an average audience of 4.09 million viewers, a +9% increase from the 2023 NLDS which aired on TNT Sports. The two American League matchups (New York Yankees vs. Kansas City and Cleveland vs. Detroit), aired on TNT Sports averaging 3.0 million viewers, an increase of +20% from last season’s two series on Fox and FS1.

The top-rated LDS game was the deciding fifth game between Los Angeles and San Diego. The game aired on Fox, Fox Deportes and streamed, averaging 7.5 million viewers. It was the most watched LDS game in seven seasons. In addition, the fifth and deciding game between Cleveland and Detroit played on a Saturday afternoon on TNT Sports, averaged 3.42 million viewers. The most watched afternoon LDS game (first pitch starting before 4 p.m.) in 17 seasons.

The first two rounds of the postseason across all networks averaged 3.33 million viewers, a year-over-year increase of +18%.

Japan LDS: Besides the United States, MLB’s postseason has been popular in Japan. The deciding fifth NLDS game between Los Angeles and San Diego averaged 12.9 million viewers, surpassing the 7.5 million viewers in the U.S. It became the most watched MLB postseason game in Japan. The pitching matchup of San Diego’s Yu Darvish and Los Angeles’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto marked the first time two Japanese born pitchers were facing each other in an MLB postseason game. The game also featured Japanese born superstar Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers, the first MLB player to hit 50+ home runs and steal 50+ bases in the same MLB season. The first game of this series had averaged a strong 9.1 million viewers in Japan.

League Championship Series: The six-game NLCS between the Mets and Dodgers, averaged 5.64 million viewers on Fox and FS1. This was a year-over-year increase of +20% from 2023, making it the highest average audience for an NLCS series since 2019. Game 1 averaged 8.34 million viewers, the most watched postseason game of 2024 heading into the World Series. The sixth and final game averaged 6.27 million viewers, going head-to-head against NFL Sunday Night Football and the fifth and deciding game in the WNBA Finals. Heading into the World Series the audience delivery for the MLB postseason on Fox Sports has increased +33% from last year. Not since 2017 has Fox averaged a higher audience leading up to the Fall Classic.

The ALCS saw the Yankees defeat Cleveland. The ALCS averaged 4.99 million viewers on TNT Sports, a -1% decline from 2023. The ALCS was only one of the six playoff series that reported a year-over-year falloff in viewers. The deciding Game 5 averaged 5.73 million (6.12 million including UniMás), it was the most watched matchup of the series. It was also the most watched Game 5 since 2018.

Overall, the NLCS (six games) and ALCS (five games), shown on Fox, FS1 and TNT Sports averaged 5.32 million viewers, an increase of +2% from last season, when both LCS’ went the full seven games. It was also the highest rated LCS since 2017.

World Series: The 2024 Fall Classic will feature the most storied World Series rivalry. The Dodgers will be appearing in their 22^nd World Series, more than any National League team. The Yankees will be playing in their 41^st World Series, more than any MLB club. The two teams will be meeting a record twelfth time. Overall, the Yankees hold the edge, winning eight of the previous 11 World Series; 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1977 and 1978. The Dodgers won in 1955 (while in Brooklyn), 1963 and 1981, the last time the two teams met.

A Fall Classic Rivalry: Dating back to 1968, the three most recent Dodgers-Yankees World Series rank among the most watched of all time. The six-game 1978 World Series is the most watched World Series averaging 44.28 million viewers. The six-game 1981 World Series ranks third, averaging 41.37 million viewers. The 1977 Fall Classic is the sixth highest averaging 37.15 million viewers. The six most watched World Series all occurred between 1977 and 1982 alternatingly aired on ABC and NBC. By that time, all World Series games all aired in prime time the NFL was not the ratings juggernaut it had become and, at the time, broadcast TV had few viewing competitors.

By comparison, the four most recent World Series games, dating back to 2020, rank as the four least watched Fall Classics, all averaging fewer than 12 million viewers. Last year’s five-game World Series (Texas vs. Arizona), was the least watched with an average audience of 9.08 million viewers.

With a strong postseason ratings performance already and a storied rivalry, viewership to the Dodgers and Yankees should easily surpass the most recent World Series matchups. Also, helping to boost ratings, scheduled games will go head-to-head with the NFL only once, when Game Three competes with NFL Monday Night Football. Also sparking interest and viewing would be close and exciting games. The series going the full seven games would also be beneficial. The last game seven played, in 2019, was also the last World Series game to average 20+ million viewers.