By Chad Finn, The Boston Globe Sure, the final viewership for the World Series would have been even higher had the Yankees not forgotten how to catch routine fly balls and cover first base and whatnot during the fifth inning of the Dodgers’ clinching Game 5 victory . But by baseball’s modern viewership standards — and the standards of some other major professional sports in this sprawling, splintered television/streaming landscape — the World Series was a huge success. The series averaged 15.
81 million viewers across Fox, Fox Deportes, and streaming options, per Nielsen Media Research. That was the largest viewership since the Astros banged baseballs and trash cans en route to a seven-game victory over the Dodgers in 2017, a series that averaged 18.93 million viewers.
Another success for Fox’s viewership: The Dodgers’ come-from-behind 7-6 win over the Yankees in Game 5 averaged 18.6 million viewers across the aforementioned networks and streams, making it the most-watched World Series game since the Nationals’ Game 7 victory over the Astros in 2019, which averaged 23.22 million viewers.
Fox executives can’t be disappointed by the final viewership numbers, but they must be wondering how much larger the audience would have been had the Yankees been able to extend the series. The most-watched World Series since 2007 is . .
. well, your first guess would probably be correct. The Cubs’ epic seven-game victory over fellow longtime heartbreak-sufferer Cleveland in .