The game was as exciting as any World Series opener in recent memory: a 9th inning, game-tying home run -- followed by an 11th-inning walkoff. But the Rangers' opener against the D-backs Friday night posted the lowest numbers ever for a World Series opener with 9.17 million viewers. The previous low was during the pandemic, when Dodgers-Rays drew 9.27 million.
Some recent comps for 9.17 million viewers? That’s well below the 9.92 million that the Iowa-LSU NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship drew on ABC/ESPN2 back in April. It’s also less than what Colorado-Colorado State football drew on ESPN on Sept. 15 (9.3 million).
On the flip side, even with a record low, the World Series delivered Fox the most-watched program of the day on all of TV, and an easy prime-time win. The No. 2 program on Friday night was “Price is Right At Night” on CBS with just over 3 million viewers. Nothing on cable TV topped 3 million viewers on Friday.
The Rangers-D-backs opener is above the Republican presidential debate on Fox/Fox News from Sept. 27 (8.5 million), and above Rams-Bengals on “Monday Night Football” on Sept. 25 (9 million on ESPN/ESPN2).
Here is MLB’s round-by-round postseason report card after a strong LCS:
| MLB postseason viewership | |||
| ROUND | 2023 (000) | 2022 (000) | CHANGE |
| Wild Card | 2,258 | 2,734 | -17% |
| LDS | 3,134 | 3,404 | -8% |
| LCS | 5,202 | 4,530 | 15% |
