World Series 2008

Last night was the first game of the 2008 World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays. It was a good start to what hopefully will be a dynamic series. Hamels outdueled Kazmir in a solid performance but it will be interesting to see if Philly can draw the same sort of effort out of the rest of their staff.

It will also be interesting to see what kind of viewership ratings that the series draws. Many are speculating that since the Phillies haven’t been to the Series in over 25 years, and the Rays have never been, that there will be less than stellar ratings. To be sure, TV executives would have preferred the Red Sox to have made it due to the larger national media market that such a series would have drawn. As MLB.com reported, Boston’s taking the ALCS to a seventh game delivered the highest rating—7.9 US Household rating—of any game of the 2008 regular and postseason, and, shown on TBS, it was the highest rating ever for a cable-broadcast game. But Boston is no longer around.

Sure, underdog stories are nice. It’s fun to ride the bandwagon and it’s been fun watching Rays fans experience a feeling that they certainly have never felt before. But the likelihood of the series drawing record numbers looks small. However, should the Rays and Phillies take the series the distance and make a drama out of it all bets are off. Rating histories show that viewership grows as a series progresses. As tension builds, more fans become drawn to the drama. When the Marlins won back in 1997 they were a relatively unknown team—indeed they had only been around since 1993. Yet that series earned a respectable 16.7 rating due to the fact that game seven drew more than twice the number of viewers as game one.

An aside—I have recently begun work on a major research project looking into Congress’ and the Court’s special treatment of MLB as it relates to antitrust issues. I am hoping that out of this study I will be able to present a unique view of baseball’s affect on American society as a national pastime. If anyone has any thoughts or book suggestions they are more than welcome!