If you think this is bad, the preliminaries I have seen for Game 2 (against College Football) will be devastating. The bill has come due. They let two generations grow up not watching after-midnight playoff games, and then they managed to chase the ME type with the expanded playoffs. So as the 5 seed plays the 6 seed in the MLB Finals, it comes as no surprise that this has happened.
The baseball mafia will cling to excuses and tell us the Orioles attendance is up and whatever other metric they cling to – but you live your daily life, is anyone talking about baseball? They are not.
Baseball needs to get Ohtani to the Bronx and Trout to the Mets. Then they need to make sure Ohtani, Judge, Trout and Vulgar Pete all get fed the special baseballs that show up from time to time. Everyone keep your mouths shut and look the other way as baseball markets the 4 way crosstown rival Home Run Chase. The rest of the country can hate on New York. This is the formula. This is the way.
Marketing Arizona’s Joe Mantiply vs. Texas’ Andrew Heaney is not going to get this mission done.
The Rangers’ 6-5 win over the Diamondbacks in 11 innings averaged 9.35 million viewers on Fox, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming service. The previous low was 9.48 for the opening game in 2020 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays.
According to Nielsen, Fox averaged 9.17 million for the game telecast. It is only the sixth World Series game that didn’t attract at least 10 million viewers. (Via ESPN)
