FS1 last night drew a 5.0 overnight rating for the Dodgers' 1-0 win over the Cubs in Game 2 of the NLCS, marking the cable net's best figure for any telecast on record. If the figure holds, it will pass viewership for the clinching Cubs-Giants NLDS Game 4 as FS1's most-viewed telecast on record. The 5.0 overnight is up 4% from TBS' Mets-Cubs NLCS Game 2 last year, which also aired on a Sunday night. Chicago led all markets with a 23.9 local rating for the game, which is FS1's best figure ever in the market. L.A. drew a 10.8 local rating, which was also an FS1 record in that market (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: In Chicago, Phil Rosenthal noted Fox' Joe Buck knows the "curse of calling Cubs playoff games, something few announcers have done and a challenge he's only now facing for the first time." Buck: "You have to go there at least a little bit. It is part of what makes this great theater." Buck said that he "intends to be disciplined about how often he goes to the well of the Cubs' historic frustration." But he said, "It's not something I'll completely stay away from. I don't think that's fair either. ... October is kind of open season on the national broadcasters. We should probably show up at the stadium wearing those orange vests that hunters wear" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 10/16).
RACE AGAINST TIME: In DC, Norman Chad notes this year's playoff games are "taking forever." The regular season is "stretched out too far" and the games are "lasting too long" (WASHINGTON POST, 10/17). In N.Y., Benjamin Hoffman wrote even in a postseason landscape in which the average game has stretched to 3 hours, 30 minutes, Dodgers-Nationals NLDS Game 5 last Thursday was "special," as the seventh inning alone "took 66 minutes." MLB has "made a priority of improving the pace of its games," so playoff games "going deep into the night -- on the heels of a season in which the sport lost traction in its attempts to speed things up -- has to be somewhat troubling" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/16).
QUIET PLEASE: FS1's Harold Reynolds during Dodgers-Nats Game 4 last Tuesday, when P Clayton Kershaw faced RF Bryce Harper, said, "Is this great or what." But in N.Y., Bob Raissman wrote what "would've been great" was if someone "told Reynolds to go silent." Raissman: "Let crowd reaction rule. This would’ve allowed a dramatic sequence to breathe, allowed the suspense to build." Instead, Reynolds "took all the air out" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/16).
BLEACHER CREATURES: In Chicago, Robert Reed noted the Cubs-centric web site Bleacher Nation, which is "not affiliated with any team or media partner," is becoming a '"must-click' niche destination for tens of thousands of fervent Cubs believers." Cubs fan Brett Taylor runs the site, which has 135,000 Facebook likes and 58,000 Twitter followers. Though it "doesn't break news, rarely floats rumors or share insider tips like other sports sites," Bleacher Nation is "starting to generate some money for expansion" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 10/15).
