Series off to weak start with TV viewers
The St. Louis Cardinals' 4-2 win over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night drew the third-lowest overnight television rating for Game 2 of a World Series in history, according to Sports Media Watch.
The 9.5 overnight on FOX was up 8 percent from the second game of the Detroit Tigers-San Francisco Giants matchup last year but down 5 percent from Game 2 of the Texas Rangers-Cardinals matchup in 2011.
Thursday night's game finished ahead of only the Tigers-Giants last year (8.8) and the Philadelphia Phillies-Tampa Bay Rays Game 2 in 2008 (9.2).
For the second straight year, the World Series received a single-digit overnight for Games 1 and 2. And for games not played on a Saturday night, the rating was the fifth worst ever for all World Series games, topping Games 1 and 2 of the Tigers-Giants last year, Game 2 of the Phillies-Rays in 2008 and Game 1 on Wednesday.
Contrast those numbers with the the 12.5 overnight for the Red Sox's last World Series appearance in 2007 against the Colorado Rockies and a 17.1 on a Sunday night when Boston played St. Louis in 2004.
