Rays-Yankees get most viewers during Division Series

NEW YORK — The Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees drew the five-most watched games of the Division Series, boosted by prime-time start times.

Tampa Bay’s 2-1 win in Game 5 on Oct. 9 was the most-watched game of the round, averaging 3,723,000 viewers on TBS, the network said Friday.

Among the other three series, the most-viewed game was the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 6-5 win over San Diego in Game 2, which averaged 1,655,000 viewers on FS1.

While ratings were down from last year, when the Yankees-Twins series averaged 2.66 million on FS1, it’s hard to compare due to the pandemic, the switch to neutral sites this year and the national election. Prime-time games on Oct. 6 and 9 were opposite the fourth and fifth games of the NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami, and Oct. 7 competed with the vice-presidential debate.

Two of the three least-viewed games this year were on the MLB Network; Game 3 between the Dodgers and Padres on Oct. 8 (1,169,000) and Game 2 between Miami and Atlanta, which had a 2:08 p.m. EDT start (671,000).

The nine AL telecasts totalled 25.5 million on TBS, including the five most-watched games of the round.

Los Angeles’ opening win over San Diego on Oct. 6 was seen by 1,504,000 on FS1, the highest-rated Padres game in San Diego since 2006.

This year’s viewers were, with start time and the network the majority of game was carried on:

Oct. 9: Yankees-Rays, Game 5, TBS, 7 p.m. EDT: 3,723,000

Oct. 8: Rays-Yankees, Game 4, TBS, 7:22 p.m.: 2,745,000

Oct. 6: Yankees-Rays, Game 2, TBS, 8 p.m.: 2,614,000

Oct. 7: Rays-Yankees, Game 3, TBS: 7:14 p.m.: 2,391,000

Oct. 5: Yankees-Rays Game 1, TBS, 8 p.m.: 2,330,000

Oct. 7: Padres-Dodgers, Game 2, FS1, 9 p.m.: 1,655,000

Oct. 6: Padres-Dodgers, Game 1, FS 1, 9:30 p.m.: 1,504,000

Oct. 7: Athletics-Astros, Game 3, TBS, 3:30 p.m.: 1,491,000

Oct. 8: Athletics-Astros, Game 4, TBS: 3:30 p.m.: 1,435,000