The World Series is the biggest event in the baseball season. The 119th World Series starts on Oct. 27 between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Texas Rangers. Neither team was expected to make it this far, nor are either among the biggest market teams in the MLB.
The intrigue for something new and unexpected is massive, but without the massive fan bases that bigger market teams have, it will be interesting to see how the TV ratings turn out for the 2023 World Series. In this piece, we will look at each of the last 10 World Series and see what Fall Classics were the most watched.
2013 World Series
The Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals in six games in 2013. There was an average of 14.984 million viewers per game. The most viewers (19.178 million) game in Game 6. The least amount of viewers game in Game 3 with 12.473 million.
The series was capped off by David Ortiz winning his third World Series with the Red Sox, becoming the first non-New York Yankee to do so with the same team in 30 years. Ortiz was awarded the World Series MVP.
2014 World Series
In 2014, 13.930 million viewers tuned into the World Series on average to watch the San Francisco Giants beat the Kansas City Royals in seven games. The most-watched game was Game 7, with 23.517 million viewers. The low was Game 4, with 10.742 million viewers.
The Giants had won two of the previous four World Series and were set to take on a Royals team that didn't have a true superstar. The Giants won the series, giving themselves their third championship in five years and establishing themselves as an all-time powerhouse. Madison Bumgarner was the MVP.
2015 World Series
The Kansas City Royals got World Series redemption in 2015 and beat the New York Mets in five games. The lack of a Game 6/7 hurt the ratings, but Game 5 still got 17.206 million viewers. Game 3 only had 13.205 million viewers to make an average of 14.553 million viewers for the series as a whole. Salvador Perez was the MVP.
2016 World Series
Viewership was steady from 2013-2015 before there was a quick boost in 2016. The Chicago Cubs had a 108-year World Series drought and were taking on the Cleveland Indians. The Cubs ended the drought in an electric seven-game series, and Ben Zobrist was named MVP.
There were 22.847 million viewers on average, making it the most watched World Series of the last 10 years. Game 7 collected 40.045 million viewers, the most viewers since 1991. Although it was the low in the series, Game 4 still had 16.705 million people watching. There was tons of interest in this series as fans were curious if the Cubs could end the drought.
2017 World Series
In comparison to the rest of the decade, viewership remained high in 2017 for the World Series between the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers. There was an average of 18.926 million viewers, making it the second most watched World Series in the last decade. The most watched game was Game 7, where 28.240 million people tuned in.
The Astros won the series in seven games on the back of MVP George Springer, but on top of that, the victory thrust the team into becoming a dynasty over the next seven years to the present day.
2018 World Series
The Los Angeles Dodgers lost back-to-back World Series, and in 2018 it was at the hands of the Boston Red Sox. There was an average of 14.125 million viewers, with the high being 17.634 million in Game 5 and the low being 13.251 million in Game 3. Steve Pearce was the MVP of the series.
2019 World Series
Viewership was steadily declining by 2019, and the World Series that year saw the lowest viewership for a Game 7 ever. Only 23.013 million people tuned in to the deciding game. The average viewership was 13.912 million. The Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros, as Stephen Strasburg was named MVP.
2020 World Series
COVID-19 altered everything in the world, and that definitely included the baseball season. The shortened regular was cut to just 60 games. The Los Angeles Dodgers ended up winning it all in the goofy year, beating the Tampa Bay Rays in six games.
Although many fans couldn't go out into the real world, the series still set almost every record low for viewership. A record-low 9.785 million fans watched on average, and Games 1-5 are all record lows when it comes to the audience.
2021 World Series
The 2021 World Series was a six-game victory by the Atlanta Braves over the Houston Astros. It is the only World Series in the last four that didn't have at least one game that was a record low for viewership. The least viewed game still had just 10.280 million viewers, though. The average viewership was 11.744, and the most viewed game was Game 7, with 14.140 million eyes on the screen. Most Game 7s have had more of a jump in viewership than this World Series did. Jorge Soler was the MVP.
2022 World Series
Last year's World Series was again a Fall Classic that didn't have much of an audience compared to the past. In fact, it featured the least viewed Game 6 ever, as only 12.549 million people watched the close-out game. The Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies, and Jeremy Pena was the MVP. There was an average of 11.762 million viewers.
World Series TV rating history
Baseball may be America's sport, but a lot of sports have surpassed it in popularity. The last three World Series were the three least viewed World Series in history, and the fourth least viewed was in 2012.
Meanwhile, the golden era of baseball was from the late '70s through the early '80s. The fifth most-viewed World Series was in 1979. The 1978, 1980, 1981, and 1982 World Series were the four most viewed Fall Classics ever. There was an average of 44.279 million viewers for the 1978 World Series.
The 2020 World Series only had 9.785 million viewers on average. The least viewed Games 1-5 were all in 2020. The least-viewed Game 6 was in 2022, and the least-viewed Game 7 was in 2019.
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