MLB Orioles TV Ratings Down, Despite Being In 1st Place

Despite leading the AL East by four games at the All-Star break, the Baltimore Orioles are drawing fewer fans to TV screens than they did last season, according to The Baltimore Business Journal.

Orioles games have attracted an average of about 5.6 percent of Baltimore-area television viewers through the first week of July, according to Baltimore Business Journal sister publication SportsBusiness Journal.

That’s a 7 percent decrease from the same time last season.

The Washington Nationals, however, are faring much worse. Most of their games are televised on the Orioles-owned Mid-Atlantic Sports Network.

Only 1.9 out of every 100 televisions in the Washington, D.C., area tune in to Nationals games when they’re on. That’s down 34 percent from the previous year — good for the league’s third-largest drop in ratings, behind the Texas Rangers (-44 percent) and L.A. Dodgers (-70 percent).

The Orioles' TV ratings rank 8th among 29 U.S. MLB teams, while the Nationals rank 21st.

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