This week's three-game Yankees-Blue Jays series averaged 1.9 million viewers on Sportsnet, making it the most-watched MLB series in the Canadian net's history. Monday's opener drew 1.8 million viewers, while the Yankees' extra-innings win on Tuesday drew 2.04 million viewers -- the second most of any game this season. Wednesday's finale drew 1.95 million viewers. Sportsnet has averaged 1.6 million viewers for Blue Jays broadcasts during September as the team attempts to clinch its first postseason berth in 22 years. The net's season-to-date average comes in at 933,000, marking the highest season average ever for the net and up 59% over this point last year. Meanwhile, YES Network on Tuesday night drew a 4.92 local rating in N.Y. (456,000 viewers), making it the RSN's best Yankees game audience for '15 to date and the best for any game -- outside of former MLBer Derek Jeter's home finale in '14 -- in nearly three years. Wednesday's finale drew a 4.33 local rating (421,000 viewers), marking the RSN's fourth-best Yankees game this season (THE DAILY). YAHOO SPORTS CANADA's Chris Zelkovich wondered if the Blue Jays can "get themselves into the upper atmosphere of Canada's sports broadcasting world, that rarefied airspace dominated by the NHL." April's first-round Canadiens-Senators Stanley Cup Playoffs series averaged more than 3 million viewers on Canadian TV, and in order to "get into that league, a Jays playoff series would have to double the numbers the team has put up in the past few weeks." But surpassing the 3 million mark "certainly isn't out of the realm of possibility." If the Blue Jays "win their division and end up playing" the Yankees in the playoffs, numbers "could hit that mark, especially if it's a long series." A World Series appearance is "certain to drive ratings even higher than that" (CA.SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 9/24).
SUPPLY IN DEMAND: Blue Jays Senior VP/Business Operations Stephen Brooks on Thursday tweeted that one minute into the team's playoff ticket sale, 163 tickets "had been sold and 11,377 others were in transition." In Toronto, Jillian Kestler-D'Amours notes four minutes after playoff tickets went on sale at 9:00am ET, 4,911 "had been sold, 9,000 were in transition, and 25,000 people were in the queue." Around 12:20pm, 70,000 people "were waiting." The Blue Jays "declared the Division Series tickets sold out" at 11:40am, and "just as quickly, they were being resold for double and triple the original price" (TORONTO STAR, 9/25).
