MLB Posts Most-Watched Division Series In Five Years

For the second round in a row, Major League Baseball’s postseason exceeded expectations with a double-digit growth in TV audiences.

The 2022 Division Series on TBS and Fox/FS1 averaged 3.477 million viewers, up 21% from 2.833 million viewers last season. 

That makes it MLB’s most-watched Division Series since 2017 — and follows a 64% rise in viewership for the Wild Card Series.

The Division Series from Oct. 11-18 featured home run kings like the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge, upsets like the San Diego Padres toppling the 111-win Los Angeles Dodgers, and dramatic moments like the Houston Astros’ Yordan Alvarez hitting a walk-off home run against the Seattle Mariners. The result was another strong TV showing for MLB. Details:

Media

| by Michael McCarthy

Major League Baseball’s Wild Card Audience Jumps 64%

ESPN’s exclusive coverage of the 2022 MLB Wild Card Series exceed expectations.

October 14, 2022

• Baseball has the oldest national viewing audience of the major American sports. But this year’s postseason is drawing a younger audience. The number of 18-34 viewers watching the Division Series rose 22%. Viewers 17 and younger were up 9%.
• Two rainouts adversely impacted TV ratings for the Yankees vs. Cleveland Guardians. Tuesday afternoon’s decisive Game 5 averaged 4.95 million viewers on TBS, according to Sports Media Watch. That was down 24% from last season’s National League Division Series Game 5 between the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, which aired in primetime.
• Thanks to his Game 1 walk-off homer, Alvarez was the most-mentioned player on social media during the Division Series.

With New York down 1-0, TBS will televise Game 2 of the Yankees vs. Astros American League Championship Series on Thursday night (7:37 p.m. ET). Brian Anderson, Ron Darling, Jeff Francoeur and Lauren Shehadi will call the game, while Bob Costas reverts to a studio role.