2023 World Series TV Rating

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

In additional to the macro issues with the sport, this series really lacked stars. If you asked casual baseball fans to name players outside their home market, they would likely start with Shohei Ohtani and go on to maybe Aaron Judge or Mike Trout or Jose Altuve or Ronald Acuna....and few would ever get to Corey Seager or Marcus Semien or Corbin Carroll. The player with the highest recognizability was probably Max Scherzer, and he only put up a few innings before being hurt.

And yet the 2000 World Series--Jeter, Dipship Clemens, Bernie Williams and the dynastic Yankees vs. Piazza and the Mets--was the lowest-rated World Series at the time. It was mentioned somewhere (maybe here, maybe something I read on Twitter) that no league can measure itself by the NFL still going up in a straight line. The overall decline in TV viewership should be baked into the equation for all other sports and factored into interpreting the ratings.

If MLB had anyone worth a ship running it (it does not), it'd be emphasizing how high the World Series would rank compared to all other shows, as @LanceyHoward noted, and how the scheduling dramatically impacts the ratings. Of course the ratings are going to be lower when as many as four games are going to be played on Fridays & Saturdays--the worst nights of the week, ratings-wise, and nights when people are much more likely to gather in bars or at a single house. But Rob Manfred hates baseball so you're never gonna hear him or any of his minions explaining why the ratings are actually pretty good. Better to just keep bitching and moaning and telling everyone how terrible the game is.

 

[I Should Coco]

I understand why they do it, but scheduling almost half of the World Series games in early November doesn't help, either.

Baseball is a summer game and the longer the playoffs drag out the further the World Series gets from that season.

One of these years they'll have games affected by snow and/or bitter cold when a northern team without a dome reaches the World Series.

 

[BTExpress]

Of course the ratings are going to be lower when as many as four games are going to be played on Fridays & Saturdays--the worst nights of the week, ratings-wise, and nights when people are much more likely to gather in bars or at a single house

So play THOSE games in the afternoon. You've already punted on the ratings by playing them on Friday-Saturday anyway.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

I understand why they do it, but scheduling almost half of the World Series games in early November doesn't help, either.

Baseball is a summer game and the longer the playoffs drag out the further the World Series gets from that season.

One of these years they'll have games affected by snow and/or bitter cold when a northern team without a dome reaches the World Series.

Didn't we have a game in the 1997 World Series in Cleveland that was frigid.

 

[BTExpress]

"I don't think the heavy stuff's coming down for quite a while."

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

So play THOSE games in the afternoon. You've already punted on the ratings by playing them on Friday-Saturday anyway.

I don't disagree, but I guarantee MLB says they don't want to go against college football...which, again, just doubles down on baseball's intentional inferiority complex. We don't want to compete against football! So we have to play more than half of our crown jewel seven-game series on Friday & Saturday nights! Why are our ratings so low? No one likes us! The sport must be broken!

 

[Octave]

The LDS used to go right up against college football. MLB didn't care back then.

There were four games on Friday and then two games each on Saturday and Sunday, if necessary.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

I understand why they do it, but scheduling almost half of the World Series games in early November doesn't help, either.

Baseball is a summer game and the longer the playoffs drag out the further the World Series gets from that season.

One of these years they'll have games affected by snow and/or bitter cold when a northern team without a dome reaches the World Series.

It's an absolute miracle there were no snowouts in Colorado in 2007. Of course, it's Denver, so it was 68 degrees for the last game, played on Oct. 28.

(And since the Rockies are a flaming train wreck, we'll never have to worry about them playing in the World Series ever again)

 

[BTExpress]

I don't disagree, but I guarantee MLB says they don't want to go against college football...which, again, just doubles down on baseball's intentional inferiority complex. We don't want to compete against football! So we have to play more than half of our crown jewel seven-game series on Friday & Saturday nights! Why are our ratings so low? No one likes us! The sport must be broken!

There's not football on Saturday nights?????

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

"I don't think the heavy stuff's coming down for quite a while."

I have that jacket.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

There's not football on Saturday nights?????

You are right, of course. To the 8-11 AM window the World Series goes! "Why are we getting lower ratings than Underdog and Smurfs?"

 

[MileHigh]

It's an absolute miracle there were no snowouts in Colorado in 2007. Of course, it's Denver, so it was 68 degrees for the last game, played on Oct. 28.

(And since the Rockies are a flaming train wreck, we'll never have to worry about them playing in the World Series ever again)

The night before, in Game 3, was darn cold as I sat in that misery for four-plus hours.

In the 2009 NLDS, Game 3 at Coors on Oct. 10 was postponed because of snow.