Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez celebrates with shortstop Miguel Rojas Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

A combination of large market teams and a pair of Game 5 rubber matches led Major League Baseball to its most-watched Division Series since 2017.

According to MLB, the Division Series captured an average of 3.56 million viewers across 18 games, an increase of 14% year over year. Postseason viewership is up 18% compared to last year, when the average audience was 3.33 million.

Perhaps the most considerable difference thus far is how deep each series has tended to go versus last season.

The 2023 postseason featured six sweeps out of its first eight playoff series between the Wild Card and Division rounds. Last year, not a single series reached a winner-take-all rubber match until the Championship Series round. 2024 has seen a return to form for MLB. The Division Series featured two Game 5s, one in the ALDS between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians and the other in the NLDS between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers. The remaining two series both made it to Game 4.

The importance of series depth cannot be understated. Game 5 of the Padres-Dodgers NLDS averaged 7.24 million viewers on Fox, the largest single-game Division Series audience in seven years. Likewise, Saturday’s ALDS decider between the Tigers and Guardians on TBS and truTV was the most-watched early window Division Series game in 17 years.

Not to be discredited, however, is the presence of large-market teams. With both New York franchises (the 1st largest television market), Los Angeles (2nd), and Philadelphia (4th) all represented, Major League Baseball was dealt an embarrassment of riches this postseason.

Some credit should also be given to the skill with which Fox and the league operated to maximize viewership.

John Ourand of Puck reported that Fox pitched MLB to switch its Tuesday afternoon Game 3 between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies from Fox to FS1 so the network could put a Game 5 (which ended up being Padres-Dodgers) on Fox rather than the smaller cable network. The only collateral was moving a college football game between Northwestern and Maryland off of Fox and onto FS1. The unconventional move paid off to the tune of a seven-year viewership record.

Fox averaged 4.09 million viewers for its Division Series games across Fox and FS1, the most since FS1 began airing postseason baseball in 2014. However, it should be noted that Fox has only recently returned to airing postseason baseball on its broadcast channel. Per Sports Media Watch, Padres-Dodgers Game 5 was just the sixth Division Series game in 16 years to air on Fox. The network has aired two Division Series games in each of the past three years.

Major League Baseball should be pleased with its performance so far this postseason. And should the New York Yankees make it past the Guardians in the ALCS, the league is guaranteed a World Series matchup that jumps off the page. Either a Subway Series against the Mets or a renewal of one of baseball’s most storied rivalries with the Dodgers awaits. You can practically see the money signs flashing in MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s eyes.

Of course, this is all if the Yankees can take care of business against the Guardians first.

[MLB, Sports Media Watch]

About Drew Lerner

Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.