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The 2023 World Series could reach its conclusion on Wednesday, November 1, with the Texas Rangers taking a 3-1 lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks into Game 5 at Chase Field.
But will anyone really be watching?
Major League Baseball has made a lot of changes in recent seasons in an effort to shorten games and bring in more viewers, but the viewership data is not exactly what MLB wants to be seeing for the Fall Classic.
Monday’s Game 3 on FOX was the least-watched World Series game in history with an average of 8.15 million viewers. That was less than half of the audience from a Week 7 NFL game between the Los Angeles Rams and Dallas Cowboys the previous day, via Front Office Sports.
The 2023 World Series is on pace to be the least-watched ever 📉https://t.co/tnRSwByf83 pic.twitter.com/psH0WfB9Hr
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) November 1, 2023
Game 3 of the World Seris fell on the rare Sports Equinox — with MLB, the NFL, NBA, and NHL all playing on the same day — but the ratings were still grim.
The previous low was 8.15 million viewers which was set for Game 2 of the Rangers-Diamondbacks on Saturday night.
Before the Rangers and Diamondbacks began setting the records that you don’t want to hold, the previous record low was 8.16 million viewers for Game 3 of the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Tampa Bay Rays during the 2020 World Series which was in the bubble due to the COVID pandemic.
This year’s Fall Classic, however, is trending to be the least-watched series in history.
The lack of star power and the lack of big market teams certainly has to do with the lower ratings, but MLB has to be concerned that sports fans are always choosing to tune in to other sports over baseball when they are given the option.
