Baseball was America’s favorite sport again — at least for one night. Game 3 of the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees did better in the ratings than “Monday Night Football’s” matchup between the New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Front Office Sports reported that the World Series game drew an average audience of 13.6 million across all Fox Sports platforms, compared to “Monday Night Football’s” 13.4 million on ABC and ESPN.
It’s a very rare occurrence when MLB defeats the NFL head on in ratings. The big reason why? New York and Los Angeles are the top two markets in the nation and have two of the most recognizable stars in the game — Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge.
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World Series ratings up across the board
Thanks to the Yankees and Dodgers, the World Series’ ratings have done exceedingly well compared to recent years.
According to Front Office Sports, Monday’s Game 3 was Fox’s best prime-time broadcast in more than a decade. The first three games of the World Series averaged 14.4 million viewers — the most since the 2017 World Series between the Dodgers and Houston Astros. (The ratings for Tuesday’s Game 4 have yet to be released.)
On top of that, Game 1 drew in 15.2 million and 13.8 million watched Game 2. This World Series has also set ratings records in Japan, thanks to Ohtani and Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Fox is looking to continue its World Series primetime dominance as the Yankees and Dodgers square up tonight in Game 5. First pitch is scheduled for 8:08 p.m. The Dodgers are currently up 3-1 as the Yankees look to stave off elimination.
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