The thrilling 11-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US average was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
