MLB World Series Least-Watched Fall Classic In TV History

The Texas Rangers 5-0 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks for their first championship on Wednesday night drew the largest audience of this World Series. However, it was not enough to prevent the five-game series from being the least-watched Fall Classic in recorded TV history, according to AP News.

Nielsen and Fox said Thursday the World Series averaged 9.11 million viewers, less than the 9.79 million average from the 2020 series, when the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Tampa Bay Rays in six games.

It was a 23 percent decline from last year’s series, when the Houston Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies in six games and averaged 11.78 million.

Wednesday night’s game averaged 11.48 million on Fox, a jump of 3 million compared to Tuesday night’s audience. The total audience across Fox, Fox Deportes and Fox streaming platforms was 11.64 million.

It was the first audience over 10 million for this year’s series. Monday night’s Game 3 set the record for the least-watched World Series game on record at 8.13 million.

The audience peaked with 14.27 million viewers for the final three outs.

Baseball and network executives figured this year’s series might face a tough audience because of two teams that don’t have much national appeal. The expanded playoffs also meant it was a series matching the teams with the seventh- and 11th-best records.