Fox earned a 2.7 overnight Nielsen rating for MLB regional coverage on Saturday from 4:00-8:00pm ET, which featured Yankees-Red Sox in 91% of U.S. markets. That figure is up from a 1.7 on the corresponding weekend last year, which featured Braves-Giants in 69% of markets. From 6:15-6:30pm, all markets were switched over to the ninth inning of White Sox P Philip Humber’s perfect game against the Mariners, with that portion of the telecast earning a 3.3 overnight. The 8% of markets seeing Mariners-White Sox were then changed to Yankees-Red Sox from 6:45-8:00pm. For Fox’ first regional coverage featuring Yankees-Red Sox last season (April 6 in 84% of markets), the net earned a 3.0 overnight (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
LESS THAN PERFECT: In Tampa, Tom Jones notes Fox switched to the White Sox-Mariners game in the ninth inning as Humber "went after a perfect game," but the switch initially "was only partway." At the time, the Red Sox led the Yankees 9-1, and Fox "decided to split the screen and put both games up at the same time." After Humber "got the first out in the ninth, someone at Fox finally wised up and put the perfect game on the screen by itself" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 4/23). CSNCALIFORNIA.com’s Paul Gutierrez wrote on his Twitter account, “Humber going for Perfection and Fox goes to split screen with Yankees-Red Sox?. Seriously?!?” SB Nation’s Andy Hutchins wrote, “I hope we all remember when Philip Humber made an absolute mockery of FOX with the picture-in-picture perfect game” (TWITTER.com, 4/21). In Louisville, Rick Bozich noted the longer Humber "persisted in retiring the Seattle Mariners one-two-three every inning, the more miffed I became that Fox didn’t dump yet another colossal Yankees-Red Sox game for the perfect game that was unfolding at the same time in Seattle" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 4/23). Meanwhile, in Albany, Pete Dougherty wrote, "What we never saw in six minutes of postgame coverage was whether the last out truly should have been an out." Fox showed the "celebration of the White Sox players and eventually got to one replay, which was from the center-field camera," but viewers "never saw a view from the first-base dugout" (TIMESUNION.com, 4/21).
