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While MLB continues to enjoy another increase at the turnstiles, fans are also tuning in to game broadcasts in greater numbers this year.
The league said Tuesday that each of its national TV partners is posting audience increases so far this season. Among the individual tallies:
- Fox is up 10% compared to last year, to an average of 1.84 million viewers per game.
- ESPN, despite its intent to walk away three years early from its MLB rights, is up 22% for its coverage to a per-game average of 1.74 million, the network’s best baseball audience since 2017.
- In Japan, MLB viewership has grown 22% to an average audience of 2.7 million, even when excluding the record-setting Tokyo Series in March. Because of the time-zone differences, most MLB games air in the morning in Japan.
- Double-digit percentage increases have also been posted for viewership on other platforms such as the league’s own MLB.TV and MLB Network Showcase game telecasts, and Tuesday-night coverage on TBS.
Highlighting the viewership data is an average draw of 2.7 million viewers and a peak of 3.1 million on Sunday Night Baseball for the June 1 finale of the high-profile Yankees-Dodgers weekend series that served as a rematch of sorts to the 2024 World Series. The viewership figure represented the best individual game audience for the primetime showcase in seven years.
The increases follow a 1.8% bump in MLB attendance so far in the 2025 regular season to an average of nearly 28,000 per game. The increase, fueled in part by strategic scheduling and the fan appeal of big stars such as the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani and Yankees’ Aaron Judge, would be the league’s third straight if it holds for the entire season.
Next Man Up
Roughly a year after Pirates star pitcher Paul Skenes arrived in the big leagues, the Royals have brought up the game’s latest young phenom, highly touted outfielder/first baseman Jac Caglianone. Selected sixth in the 2024 MLB draft, Caglianone has dominated in his short time in the minor leagues, hitting .322 with 15 home runs and 56 runs batted in across 50 games in Double-A and Triple-A play this year.
The Royals could have delayed Caglianone’s salary arbitration eligibility for an additional year had they kept him in the minors until later this month. The MLB Players Association, however, has actively sought to discourage such activity and has created various structures with the league in recent labor deals to help bring top talent up from the minors sooner.
As a result, Caglianone is the first Royals hitter to reach the majors within one year of being drafted since Bo Jackson in 1986.
Kansas City is looking for an offensive boost, as the club’s 194 runs scored entering Tuesday’s games were tied for the second worst in MLB, beating only the historically woeful Rockies. That meager performance at the plate is helping spoil what is the league’s fourth-best earned run average from the pitching staff. Caglianone brings tape-measure power to the Royals and will pair in the team’s lineup with perennial Most Valuable Player candidate Bobby Witt Jr.
