Yankees-Tigers Game Three Overnight Up On TBS; LDS Ratings Remain Down Sharply

TBS earned a 4.8 overnight for the ALDS Yankees-Tigers Game Three last night, up 30% from the comparable Yankees-Twins Game Three clincher last year, which aired on a Saturday night. Earlier in the day, Rangers-Rays Game Three earned a 2.8 overnight, flat compared to Game Three of the same matchup last year, which aired on a Saturday afternoon. Through four days across TBS and TNT, the MLB LDS is averaging a 2.6 overnight rating, down 28% from the first four days last year, when the LDS began on a Wednesday night and all games aired on TBS (Austin Karp, THE DAILY). 

AMERICA'S PASTIME: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir notes for more than "two hours Sunday, viewers in the New York market could choose between watching" Tigers-Yankees Game Two and the NFL Giants-Cardinals game. Though most of the time "the games overlapped, the Giants-Cardinals broadcast on Fox had a big ratings edge in the New York market." From 5:15-5:30pm ET, the football game's 13.1 local rating "was nearly twice the 6.8 for the Yankee game on TNT." A "similar choice was available to viewers in the Milwaukee market" with the Broncos-Packers matchup overlapping D'Backs-Brewers Game Two. The Brewers' victory on TBS "drew a considerable audience but rarely exceeded the one for the Packers' 49-23 win." The rating for the Brewers' game "grew steadily from a 7.9 at 5 p.m. to its 29.9 peak from 7:15 to 7:30, when it was greater than the 16.2 rating for the last segment of the Packers blowout" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/4). In Milwaukee, Bob Wolfley reports Broncos-Packers earned a 43.6 rating in the local market, while D'Backs-Brewers drew a 22.0 preliminary local rating, meaning "roughly double the number of viewers watched the Packers beat the Broncos, as watched the Brewers beat the Diamondbacks." The "same sort of dynamic" was in place three years ago, when a Packers-Falcons game drew 268,000 HHs in the Milwaukee market while the Brewers-Phillies NLDS game being played at the same time drew just 118,000 local HHs (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 10/4). USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand writes, "Here's how hard it is to go against the NFL: Sunday, the Green Bay Packers drew 44% of Milwaukee households and the Milwaukee Brewers drew 20%. In Phoenix, the Arizona Cardinals drew 21% of local households while the Arizona Diamondbacks drew 6%" (USA TODAY, 10/4).

JOINING THE TEAM: Fox yesterday formally announced the addition of White Sox C A.J. Pierzynski as a pre- and postgame analyst for the net's coverage of the '11 ALCS and World Series. Pierzynski will join host Chris Rose and analyst Eric Karros live on-set for every broadcast, making his debut on Saturday at 7:30pm for coverage of the ALCS Game One (Fox).