ESPN earned a 5.7 overnight rating for the Astros’ 3-0 win over the Yankees in the AL Wild Card last night, making it the highest-rated MLB Wild Card telecast since the single-game format began in '12. It also is ESPN’s highest-rated MLB game since Cubs-Braves NLDS Game 3 in ’03. ESPN aired select ALDS and NLDS games through the '06 postseason. Last night’s rating is up 50% from a 3.8 overnight for TBS’ coverage of the 12-inning Royals-A’s AL Wild Card in ’14, which also aired on a Tuesday. Astros-Yankees also is up 39% from a 4.1 overnight for ESPN’s broadcast of last year’s Giants-Pirates NL Wild Card, which aired on a Wednesday. Last night’s game peaked at a 6.4 rating from 10:00-10:15pm ET. Astros-Yankees drew a 14.8 local rating in Houston -- the best for an ESPN MLB game ever in the market. It garnered a 12.0 rating in N.Y. -- the highest-rated MLB game on ESPN there since ’12. The game also drew 445,000 unique viewers on WatchESPN, marking the platform's most-viewed MLB game on record (ESPN).
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Archer received high praise for his performance
as an analyst during ESPN's broadcast |
RAY OF LIGHT: USA TODAY's Avery Stone wrote Rays P Chris Archer, who last night joined ESPN's broadcast, "could have a secondary career if he ever decided to stop pitching." Archer "stole the spotlight" (USATODAY.com, 10/6). The Bergen Record's Art Stapleton: "If Chris Archer wasn't so good at his day job, he could quit and join the broadcast booth immediately. So smooth." Dodgers P Brett Anderson: "If Chris Archer wasn't so good at throwing sliders, he'd instantly be one of the best baseball commentators." Grantland's Jonah Kari: "Chris Archer is 1 of the 10-12 best pitchers on Earth, and might also be 1 of the 10-12 baseball commentators on Earth." ESPN's Jemele Hill: "Chris Archer has been really good in the booth tonight. Also, awesome hair." CBSSports.com's Will Brinson: "Congrats on whatever baseball media job you want when you're done playing Chris Archer." SI's Emma Span: "Really solid ESPN broadcast tonight - it's been really pleasant listening to @jessmendoza the last few months, and Chris Archer was great."
THE MENDOZA LINE: YAHOO SPORTS' Mike Oz wrote ESPN booth analyst Jessica Mendoza "was spot-on," delivering the "type of analysis that has led to a larger role at ESPN this MLB season." Softball and baseball "aren't exactly the same thing, but Mendoza illustrated an ability to speak just as keenly about baseball during her tenure at ESPN" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 10/7).
ONE & FUN? In Boston, Dan Shaughnessy writes last night's 3-0 Astros win exemplified that "nothing in baseball beats a one-game playoff." Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein said, "I understand why baseball came up with it. You can’t take too long with this round. It’s not fair to let the division winners stand around and get cold." He added, "There’s no denying that starting the postseason with two Game 7s, essentially, is great for TV. It’s really hard to have a gripe if you don’t win your division. Baseball’s not supposed to be completely fair" (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/7). MEN'S JOURNAL's Aaron Stern wrote the one-game elimination round "is a controversial, tortured device many thought spat in the face of baseball history." Former MLBers Al Leiter and Sean Casey "have seen how adding just two teams, and just two games, has reshaped baseball in the years since it was introduced." They argue the drama and despair "actually highlights the beauty of baseball's long, slow-freight-train of a season." Stern noted there is "always the slippery-slope possibility of expanding the one-game series to three games, and then five, and adding more teams for more and more TV money until you get to the point the NBA is at, in which more than half the franchises qualify for the postseason." For a sport that "barely allowed four teams in" as recently as '95, that "would be a failure for baseball" (MENSJOURNAL.com, 10/5).
