Wild Card round smashes viewership records under current format
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Baseball fans couldn’t get enough Wild Card Series action last week.
The four series in the opening round of MLB’s postseason set viewership records and saw huge spikes in interest among younger viewers. In total, the 11 Wild Card Series games -- all of which aired on ESPN networks -- averaged 4.625 million viewers. That’s a 64 percent increase from last year’s Wild Card Series and the highest average for the WCS round since the current format was officially added in 2022.
The most-watched game of the bunch was the winner-take-all matchup between the Red Sox and Yankees on Thursday. The latest chapter in the rivalry averaged 7.439 million viewers, making it the most-watched Wild Card Series game under the current format and the most-watched MLB game on ESPN since the Red Sox and Yankees faced off in the 2021 AL Wild Card Game.
Viewership was up 89 percent from last year among those under 35 years old and up 109 percent among the 17-and-under demographic. Lastly, 6.4 million viewers tuned in from Japan to watch Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers take on the Reds in Game 1 of their Wild Card Series on Tuesday, making it the country’s most-watched Wild Card game.