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MLB Postseason Ratings Are Soaring

Record numbers everywhere one looks.

Kyle Koster

Francisco Lindor rounds the bases after a leadoff home run in Game 2 of the NLCS.
Francisco Lindor rounds the bases after a leadoff home run in Game 2 of the NLCS. / Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images
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Major League Baseball's postseason has been especially good on-field product this fall and has proven to be a ratings success at this point. ESPN enjoyed the highest numbers ever for the Wild Card round, averaging 2.823 million viewers, a 25% increase from last year.

That momentum continued through the Division Series portion of programming as baseball posted the best figures since 2017, an 18% bump from 2023.

The presence of two New York teams and one from Los Angeles certainly helps explain the additional eyeballs and the Detroit Tigers-Cleveland Guardians series went a full five games.

Those major market squads surviving into the ALCS and NLCS had Fox and TNT Sports salivating at even more juicy numbers and it certainly looks like they'll be getting those.

Fox reports that Game 1 of the NLCS between the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers was the most-watched Game 1 LCS on any network since 2009. Which is even more impressive considering the fact baseball was going up against Sunday Night Football.

Every single possible permutation of a potential World Series matchup is attractive so the sky feels like the limit when it comes to baseball doing big business on television this October. This, of course, will do little to stem the pieces about how the sport needs to be saved and can't market itself but that feels like a lost fight anyway.

Baseball is having a much-deserved moment and a lot of people are catching it in real time.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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