The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
