Last night’s play-in game to determine the National League Wild Card representative attracted almost 4 million viewers on average for TBS.
The Colorado Rockies 9-8 triumph over the San Diego Padres in 13 innings scored a 2.9 household rating, translating into some 3.95 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research data provided by Major League Baseball.
MLB officials said the average viewership made Rockies/Padres the fifth most-watched show on TBS in 2007.
The game topped all but one of the Division series games – New York Yankees/Detroit Tigers—that aired on ESPN last year, according to MLB. Moreover, over the last three seasons, only one National League division series game delivered a larger audience than the Oct. 1 contest.
With the Rockies securing the NL Wild Card, they will be flying east to take on the Philadelphia Phillies at 3 p.m. (ET) on Oct. 3 in what will be the first official game under TBS’s seven-year deal with MLB that gives the “very funny” network exclusivity for all four division series and the rights to one of the League Championship Series. This year TBS will televise the NLCS, while Fox, which retains the rights to the other LCS and the World Series, will showcase the ALCS.
TBS will follow Phillies/Rockies with coverage of Boston Red Sox/Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at 6:30 p.m. and then the Chicago Cubs at Arizona Diamondbacks at 10 p.m.
The network also has a tripleheader on tap for Thursday Oct. 4, starting with game 2 of Phillies/Rockies at 3 p.m., the first contest of the Cleveland Indians/Yankees series at 6:30 p.m., and finally the second contest in Phoenix, where the Diamondbacks will host the Cubs.
