Tigers double local viewership, while A’s see largest decline in MLB

With baseball’s regular season in the books the local viewership picture of MLB’s 30 clubs is coming into focus. And predictably, the teams that saw success on the field this year notched the largest viewership increases, while under-performing teams struggled to retain an audience.

Leading the way in the year-over-year increase department are the Detroit Tigers, according to Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal. The Tigers more than doubled viewership from the 2024 season, notching a 113% increase on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit. Per Karp, it was the team’s best average audience since 2016. Of course, the Tigers found themselves in a heated battle down the stretch to win the AL Central, ultimately falling one game short of the Cleveland Guardians, but giving fans plenty of reason to tune in.

Another team battling for the postseason posted the second-largest increase this year, the Miami Marlins. The Marlins finished with 79 wins this season, up from 62 last season, and increased their local television audience by 92%. The caveat here is that the Marlins still finished with the second-lowest local rating among all MLB clubs, meaning the team’s 2024 numbers must have been truly dismal.

The Boston Red Sox (44%), Chicago Cubs (37%), and New York Mets (26%), round out the top-five largest year-over-year increases of the season. The Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers, and the Tigers were the three highest-rated teams overall in their local markets this season.

As for the biggest declines, a handful of the league’s most disappointing teams comprise the list. The location-less A’s, perhaps unsurprisingly, swallowed the largest year-over-year decline. The A’s television audience declined by 62% versus the 2024 season as the team played its first season in its temporary home of Sacramento before eventually moving to Las Vegas.

The Chicago White Sox also saw substantial year-over-year decline amid another dismal season and a switch from NBC Sports Chicago to Chicago Sports Network, the latter of which was subject to a lengthy carriage dispute with Comcast that kept the network dark for two-thirds of the season. The Sox saw viewership slip by 42% versus last season as a result.

The Baltimore Orioles clocked a 39% decline after failing to live up to the season’s high expectations, while the Minnesota Twins and Tampa Bay Rays declined by 30% and 28% respectively.

Overall, MLB viewership had a great year with each of the league’s national broadcast partners notching increases versus last season.