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World Series Game 7 second most-watched since 2004, but couldn't beat the Cubs

Chris Cwik
Staff writer

Breaking a 56-year World Series drought is pretty darn good, but not as good as breaking a 108-year World Series drought. Yeah, it was obvious the Chicago Cubs’ amazing Game 7 win in 2016 would rule the television rankings, but the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers shouldn’t be too upset.

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According to FOX Sports, Game 7 of the 2017 World Series was the second-most watched baseball telecast since 2004.

As that graphic states, Game 7 of the 2017 World Series received an 18.8/31 metered-market rating/share. Don’t know what that means? It’s OK, we’ll try to help. The first number is the percentage of people watching who own TVs. So 18.8 percent of the viewing public watched the game. The second number refers to the time slot. So, of all people who had their TVs on at that time, 31 percent watched the game. The other 69 percent were watching some other program.

Those figures are down nearly 25 percent from the Cubs’ big win in 2016. The Cubs put up a 25.2/40, which seems pretty impressive.

Houston turned out to watch the Astros in the World Series. (AP Photo)
Houston turned out to watch the Astros in the World Series. (AP Photo)

But the Astros and Dodgers did better than the Game 7 in 2014, when the San Francisco Giants toppled the Kansas City Royals. And they beat out Game 7 of the 2011 World Series, when the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Texas Rangers.

Locally, Houston really came out to support the Astros, though. Their 47.1/66 in local areas was the best Major League Baseball telecast on record.

Los Angeles did pretty well too. They put up a 36.7/56. Here’s how that compares to other L.A. championship appearances:

So, yes, the Cubs reign supreme, but that’s to be expected. The real takeaway here is that Houston turned out for the Astros in a big way. The fanbase was hungry for a win, and the Astros didn’t let them down.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik