The Detroit Tigers' 3-2 triumph over the New York Yankees in Game 5 of their American League Division series scored TBS's largest audience with that round of Major League Baseball's postseason and the tops since 2005.
TBS's exclusive Oct. 6 telecast connected with a 6.2 U.S. household rating and 9.72 million viewers, according to Nielsen data. That made the telecast the most-watched LDS game in cable history -- TBS has been airing the action since 2007, while ESPN and ABC Family predecessor, Fox Family and FX were previously in the MLB postseason game -- and the tops in the opening round of baseball's playoffs since Fox plated nearly 13.7 million watchers when the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim beat the Yankees in Game 5 of their 2005 ALDS.
Based on metered market ratings, TBS said it was the highest-rated network on Thursday in cable and third in all of television. Naturally, local interest was keen with TBS earning am 18.3 rating in the New York DMA and a 27.6 in the Detroit area, according to Nielsen.
TBS -- which this year has exclusive rights to present the National League Championship Series, while Fox shows the AL version pitting the Tigers against the Texas Rangers -- concludes its exclusive Divisional Series coverage today with a pair of Game 5 matchups: the Arizona Diamondbacks at Milwaukee Brewers 5 p.m. (ET), followed by the St. Louis Cardinals at Philadelphia Phillies 8:30 p.m.
