LOS ANGELES — A historic night on the field Friday also drove a big viewership win for Major League Baseball and Fox Sports.
Game 1 of the star-studded World Series between the Dodgers and Yankees, capped off by a walk-off, extra-innings grand slam from Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, generated an average audience of 15.2 million across the linear broadcast, streaming on Fox Sports properties, Fox Deportes, and Univision.
That figure is 62% higher than Game 1 of last year’s World Series between the Rangers and Diamondbacks, and it’s the highest viewership for a Fall Classic opener since 2017, when the Dodgers faced the Houston Astros.
The audience peaked at 17.8 million viewers in the 10th inning, between 11:30 p.m. ET and the end of the game.
The Matchup MLB Wanted
While the presence of the well-heeled Dodgers and Yankees in the 2024 World Series has driven viewership expectations even higher than this opening average, historically the event builds momentum (and eyeballs) over the best-of-seven competition. Even with record-low viewership last year, the audience grew 18% between the first game and the fifth and final game.
During the Cubs’ celebrated championship march in 2016—the current-era highwater mark this World Series is chasing—there was an even-greater 109% rise between Game 1 and Game 7.
As a result, the latest Game 1 figure could potentially be seen as a base from which the rest of the World Series will grow. But having the Yankees climb back and avoid a sweep will be crucial for the league and Fox Sports.
The number from Japan, where ratings have already been robust in the earlier playoff rounds thanks to mega-star Shohei Ohtani, is expected to come out Monday. The audience for Game 1 in that country could very well top the U.S. figure, despite a population roughly one-third as large.
All the Drama
Los Angeles was still buzzing the day after Freeman’s heroics, which closely recalled the Kirk Gibson walk-off home run, also at Dodger Stadium, that started the 1988 World Series against the A’s.
“It might be the greatest baseball moment I’ve ever witnessed, and I’ve witnessed some great ones,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said about the Freeman homer. “It was a great game before that, but the way it finished, I just couldn’t be more excited for our guys.”
Saturday afternoon at the ballpark, Roberts further reflected on the fact that between Freeman’s home run and his own steal for the Red Sox in the 2004 American League Championship Series—which kicked off an improbable comeback for Boston chronicled in a new Netflix documentary—he has now been involved in two of the Yankees’ most noteworthy playoff defeats in recent history.
“It’s different. Two different vantage points, one being a player, one being a manager,” Roberts said. “I think, for me, just World Series Game 1, where we were at, I might give this one a little nod. [But] they both feel great.”
