TBS’ ALDS doubleheader yesterday, which featured A’s-Tigers Game 4 and the series-clinching Red Sox-Rays Game 4, averaged a 3.6 overnight rating, a 24% increase when compared to a 2.9 on the sixth day of LDS coverage in ’12. On the comparable day last season, two of the three games played were potentially series-deciding matchups.
TRENDING UPWARD: TBS’ MLB postseason coverage through Monday is averaging a 2.3 final rating and 3.55 million viewers. While the rating is flat through the same period in ’12, viewership is up 2% from 3.47 million viewers. The net is on pace for its most-viewed postseason since ’10. Meanwhile, TBS’ opening week of postseason coverage earned the net the top spot among cable nets in primetime viewership (THE DAILY).
POSTSEASON MAGIC: In New Jersey, Bob Klapisch writes MLB is "putting on a terrific show, arguably the best, and most competitive postseason in years." TBS might have "initially regretted not having a New York hook for its ratings sweeps, but little by little, the playoffs have turned into must-watch TV." Klapisch: "Here we are, now on the doorstep of not one, but two Game 5 scenarios that no one saw coming." Execs in both leagues "still think the World Series will inevitably distill into an East-West faceoff -- Red Sox versus Dodgers -- but this is nevertheless the homogenized tournament that Bud Selig wanted all along" (
Bergen RECORD, 10/9). In DC, Thomas Boswell writes it is possible MLB has "never had a better single day than the 12 hours from 1 p.m. Monday afternoon until after 1 a.m. Tuesday morning." Almost everything "good about the game, especially its warped but wonderful postseason, was on display." The "best and worst aspect of October baseball is that you have no idea who will win or why or which heroes will emerge." The better team "usually wins, but not often enough to claim that baseball’s format is any model of fairness." Instead, it is the "epitome of entertainment, but one that is so spread out that it demands hours of attention, or good luck, to see the best of it" (
WASHINGTON POST, 10/9).
