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After a banner MLB wild card series, the Division Series is off to a similarly strong start.
Fox Sports said Wednesday that it averaged 3.2 million viewers for its initial two days of coverage of the NL Division Series involving the Braves and Dodgers, as well as the Padres and Brewers. That’s up 2% from last year, when the network carried the AL Division Series and ultimately set a 10-year viewership high, though down 11% from comparable initial figures in 2024, when Fox Sports last had the NLDS.
Game 1 of the Atlanta-Los Angeles series in particular averaged 5.48 million viewers, representing the most-watched LDS Game 1 on any network since 2018.
TNT Sports, meanwhile, said its coverage of the ALDS involving the Yankees and Rays, as well as the White Sox Guardians, averaged 2.8 million viewers for a Saturday doubleheader across TBS, truTV, and HBO Max. That figure is up 6% from the comparable figure in 2024, when TNT Sports last aired the AL playoffs.
The start of the NLDS aired on both Saturday and Sunday, in part going up against NFL broadcasts, while the ALDS started on Saturday before taking a day off to stagger the broadcasts.
Fox’s numbers came in strong despite going up against stiff NFL competition on Sunday. As part of that, CBS Sports set a new milestone by averaging 28.4 million viewers for a late Sunday afternoon game between the Chiefs and Raiders, making it the new leader as the most-watched NFL game so far this season.
Extending the Momentum
The latest MLB postseason viewership figures follow a bullish run for the televised wild card games on NBC Sports platforms.
The network averaged 7.3 million viewers for the Yankees’ Game 1 win over the Red Sox, and 7.4 million for Game 2 in which New York completed the sweep. Collectively, the broadcasts represented the most-watched first two games of any MLB wild card or Division Series since 2004.
The three-game Phillies-Braves series, meanwhile, averaged 4.8 million viewers, despite the first two games airing in afternoon windows. The Game 3 clincher won by Atlanta averaged 6.1 million viewers, and was the most-watched Game 3 of an NL wild card or Division Series since 2006.
NBC Sports aired both of those series on the flagship broadcast network. The White Sox-Astros and Cubs-Padres series aired on Peacock and NBCSN, and NBC Sports did not release viewership figures for those games.
Rise of the Lower Class
The initial LDS games, meanwhile, have shown an even stronger presence by the postseason’s lower-revenue upstarts.
The Rays have raced out a 2–0 series over the Yankees, despite operating with a $113.2 million luxury tax payroll that is MLB’s fourth smallest.
The Brewers also have a 2–1 series lead over the Padres heading into Wednesday night’s NLDS Game 4 at Petco Park. Milwaukee ranks 19th in luxury-tax payroll at $154.7 million, but remains the league’s smallest media market.
The White Sox, with a $117.6 million luxury-tax payroll that ranks just ahead of the Rays at No. 26, have a 2–0 series lead over the Guardians, and are seeking an AL Championship Series berth after three straight 100-loss seasons, including a 41-121 campaign in 2024 that is the worst in modern MLB history.
Game 3 onWednesday at Rate Field begins a LDS quadrupleheader across Fox Sports and TNT Sports. The White Sox are attempting to clinch a berth to the LCS round with one more win, as are the Rays, Dodgers, and Brewers.
“Shout out to the fans that stuck with us, rolled with us, [and] stuck with us through all the struggles,” said Chicago catcher Kyle Teel. “And now we’re doing big things, and just to have the opportunity to play in front of them, showcase what we’re about, and play to win a ballgame is just really special.”
That dynamic has become central in ongoing labor negotiations between MLB and the MLB Players Association. In seeking a hard salary cap, management argues that teams such as these cannot adequately compete on a sustained basis, something that the union contests.
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