A Lukewarm Congratulations on the World Series

So, congratulations to the Phillies on their World Series Victory. Like Crash Davis from Bull Durham, I too believe that there ought to be a constitutional amendment against the designated hitter so I was glad to see the Phillies and the National League take back the title. It was also exciting to see Brad Lidge stay perfect throughout the season and Jimmi Rollins is one of my favorite players. But enough with the good news. My prediction that this would be poorly watched Series turned out to be correct. In fact, the 2008 World Series was the lowest rated and least watched Fall Classic ever.

The five game duel between the Phillies and the Rays averaged an 8.4 rating and 13.6 million viewers. Compared to last year’s Boston/Colorado Series, this is a 21% drop in rating from 10.6 and a 22% drop in viewers from 17.1 million. This is an unfortunate trend for MLB which came about following the memorable campaign of the 2004 Boston Red Sox, whose four game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals drew the highest ratings of the decade. Since then, ratings have dropped 47% and the last four Series were the lowest rated in history.

This downward trend can be further illuminated when the Fall Classic’s performance is compared to the other major sporting events of the year. The Phillies/Rays series (8.4) underperformed the Daytona 500 (10.2), the Bowl Championship Series (9.5), the Final Four (9.4), the NBA Finals (9.3), the Belmont Stakes (9.0), the Kentucky Derby (8.9), and the final round of the Master’s (8.6). Obviously one-day events, such as the horse races or the Daytona 500, have a greater likelihood of attracting more viewers than multi-day events, but take note of the strength of the Final Four or BCS.

To be sure, the rain delays hindered the performance of the Series. So did the fact that it was comprised of two small market teams. You can be sure that had the Dodgers and Red Sox prevailed in the LCS the ratings would have been much higher. Furthermore, the decision to broadcast games so that they could be watched at post-work hours on the West Coast despite the fact that the Series did not contain a team West of the Mississippi worked to hurt viewership in the markets that would have been more interested in the Series. This, coupled with rain delays, caused 4 out of 5 games to end past midnight. The one bright spot is that the deciding game 5 continuation of Wednesday night brought the highest rated game of the MLB season (11.9). Although MLB can probably have Barack Obama’s infomercial to thank for the lead-in.