ESPN and ESPN2 averaged 1.37 million viewers for five MLB games on Sunday and Monday, up 48% from 926,000 viewers for six games last year. The season-opening telecasts also saw double-digit percentage gains in all key demos. ESPN2 averaged 3.35 million viewers for the Cardinals-Cubs “Sunday Night Baseball” opener, marking the best MLB opener since ’08. Cards-Cubs also is up from 2.28 million viewers for Dodgers-Padres to open the season last year and up from Cards-Marlins in ’13, which aired on a Wednesday night to mark the opening of Marlins Park. Cards-Cubs on Sunday also was the best MLB regular-season audience of any kind on an ESPN net since Yankees-Red Sox on Aug. 7, 2011. Cards-Cubs also drew 163,000 unique viewers on WatchESPN, marking the platform's most-viewed MLB regular-season game ever. Meanwhile, MLB Network, which did not carry any live games on Monday, had its best Opening Day audience on record. Viewership was up 16% from ’14, peaking a 222,000 viewers during “MLB Tonight” from 7:00-7:30pm ET.
YOUR LOCAL NEWS: A couple of RSNs saw record numbers for Opening Day telecasts this year. FS K.C. drew an 11.7 local rating for White Sox-Royals on Monday afternoon, marking the RSN’s best rating on record for a Royals opener. It also was the net’s fifth-best Royals rating ever. FS San Diego drew a 5.4 local rating for the Padres-Dodgers opener, marking the RSN's best Padres figure ever and up 34% from last year. CSN Bay Area also drew a 5.7 local rating in S.F.-San Jose-Oakland for Giants-D-Backs on Monday, marking the RSN's best Giants home opener on record. That game also aired on ESPN2, drawing a 0.95 local rating. Root Sports Southwest drew a 2.1 local rating in Houston for Indians-Astros, which was the new RSN’s first-ever Astros game. The game also aired nationally on ESPN, drawing a 2.0 local rating in Houston. Last season, CSN Houston averaged a 0.4 local rating for Astros games. SNY's Mets-Nationals opener drew a 2.95 local rating in N.Y. ESPN also aired the game, drawing a 1.0 local rating. FS Florida drew a 2.6 rating in Miami-Ft. Lauderdale for Marlins-Braves, marking the Marlins' best Opening Day game audience since '11.
