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TBS' Overnight Rating For AL Wild Card Matchup Up From Net's Figures In '13

TBS drew a 3.8 overnight rating for last night’s 12-inning Royals-A’s AL Wild Card matchup, up from both of the net’s WC telecasts last season. TBS drew a 3.4 overnight for the Pirates-Reds NL WC on the comparable night last year. The net’s Rays-Indians AL WC game, which aired on a Wednesday night last season, drew a 3.7 overnight. The 3.8 overnight also falls in between the ratings earned by TBS during the first year of the WC in ’12. TBS aired the first WC matchups on a Friday in ’12, with Cardinals-Braves drawing a 3.3 overnight in the 5:00pm ET window and Orioles-Rangers drawing a 4.1 overnight in the 8:30pm window. Last night’s Royals-A’s game delivered TBS a win in primetime among all cable networks. The game rating peaked during the 11:30-11:45pm quarter-hour. The K.C. market delivered a 30.3 local rating for the game, while S.F.-San Jose-Oakland market drew a 9.9 local rating (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor). SI’s Tom Verducci said of the one-game WC, “I love it, the ratings are good and I think the fans love it. You can understand do or die. It's not like, ‘Well, who has a chance to clinch tonight?’ It's win or go home” (“MLB Now,” MLB Network, 9/30).

ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL? There was a mixed bag of reaction on Twitter to TBS' announcer group of Ernie Johnson Jr., Ron Darling and Cal Ripken Jr. during last night's game. The Seattle Times' Larry Stone wrote, "One of greatest postseason games ever…but you’d hardly know it listening to anemic TBS announcing crew." The Chicago Sun-Times' Chris De Luca: "This TBS crew is sound asleep. Wild game and they barely seem to have noticed. Awful." The Boston Globe's Pete Abraham: "TBS really needed @DonOrsillo on this game. This is a tough watch." MSNBC's Mike Barnicle: "TBS baseball broadcast is terrible. Ron Darling is fine but otherwise it's time to turn to radio announcers." The Chicago Tribune's Phil Rosenthal: "The #WhiteSox should hire #TBS' Ernie Johnson as a radio announcer. It would force fans would to come to the ballpark to see what's going on." The Washington Post's Kent Babb: "I don't watch enough baseball these days to know, but is Cal Ripken always this sleepy with his calls? Seems like he just wants to go home." Sporting News' Jesse Spector: "TBS, put Pedro in the booth, and move Cal to the postgame show to lull us to sleep. Thanks." The Boston Globe's Chad Finn: "This would be a good time to send in Ryan Minor for Ripken." Media columnist Bruce Dowbiggin: "My God, just cut off Cal Ripken’s mike, please."

CRITICS' DARLING: Despite Johnson and Ripken receiving a large amount of criticism, Darling's performance seemed to stand out. Bleacher Report's Dan Levy wrote, "Ron Darling is great. All over the over-managing in the playoffs. Let starters start. Let relievers relieve. It got you here, didn't it?" YES Network's Jack Curry: "Ron Darling's analysis of the perils of bringing in Ventura was on the money, especially once Ventura fell behind 2-0." FS1's C.J. Nitkowski:" Ron Darling just nailed that tempo analysis. How long a catcher goes from sign to sign can be frustrating with a new guy." Bleacher Report's Scott Miller: "Ron Darling is exceptional." The Wall Street Journal's Brian Costa: "Ron Darling on the air in the playoffs is great. Gary Cohen along with him would be even better." Newsday's David Lennon: "Ron Darling giving @susanslusser a nice plug during tonight's #Royals - #Athletics broadcast. Way to give props to the writers Ronny."

MORE THOUGHTS ON THE COVERAGE: Pittsburgh sports writer Dejan Kovacevic wrote, "Sure is helpful of TBS to identify all the positions every bleeping time they pan out on the field. You know, for all the newbies still up." FS1's Katie Nolan: "Maybe if the third baseman watched the game on TBS he would know where he's supposed to stand in relation to the foul line." Syndicated columnist Norman Chad: "TBS can put up a graphic showing us where first, second and third bases are, but they can’t google-translate Salvador Perez’s interview?" The Boston Herald's John Tomase: "It's like TBS has never broadcast a sporting event before. Show us the Vogt play from 2 miles away next time." Newsday's Erik Boland: "Wow, TBS, just wow. You're beyond awful with the whole replay thing. Hire the YES and/or SNY people to produce these playoff games." FoxSports.com's Erik Malinowski: "Love how the TBS camera angles show us absolutely nothing." The Buffalo News' Mike Harrington: "Good job, Royals. Terrible job, TBS. You gonna show them celebrating at all??? Or just the ballboy getting the ball. My God."

CORPORATE SYNERGY: In K.C., Tim Engle notes Baseball HOFer and former Royals great George Brett was interviewed during the game, and TBS' Matt Winer got Brett "to say he spends many afternoons watching" TBS. Brett mentioned both "Friends" and "Seinfeld" as shows he regularly watches (K.C. STAR, 10/1).

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