The nail-biting extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined over 50 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
