TV ratings for the World Series finally improve, just in time for the Diamondbacks to exit

Updated Nov. 2, 2023:

Ratings finally ticked up for the 2023 World Series just in time for the Arizona Diamondbacks to get knocked out of it.

The Texas Rangers' 5-0 win over Arizona in Game 5 on Wednesday averaged 11.48 million viewers. It wasn't a record low, which is something new for this series. It wasn't even a record low for a Game 5. Small comfort for the Diamondbacks, who wound up getting bounced 4-1 in the best-of-seven series.

It's hard to be angry about Arizona's exit, though. No one — no one — expected them to get past the first round of the playoffs, much less the World Series.

If you want to be angry about something, be angry about this, from the New York Times: "The low ratings did not go without notice in cities whose teams had been eliminated from the playoffs."

Give me a break. If you want to make the World Series, WIN YOUR FREAKING GAMES, losers. Then maybe someone can watch you, instead of you watching someone else.

Updated Nov. 1, 2023:

Progress, of a sort!

The 2023 World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers set records for TV ratings futility on consecutive nights. With the Rangers jumping out to a 10-0 lead Tuesday in Game 4 on the way to an 11-7 victory, you might think the numbers would continue to sink.

Not so! They were still terrible. Just not as terrible as you might have feared.

Fox averaged 8.48 million viewers during Game 4. This is, indeed, the lowest-rated Game 4 ever. But it didn't break the record for lowest ratings ever. Game 3 still has that, um, distinction.

The previous lowest-rated Game 4 was in 2020 between the LA Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays during the pandemic.

Oct. 31:

The TV ratings for Game 1 of the 2023 World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Texas Rangers, an absolute extra-innings thriller, was the lowest rated Game 1 since viewership records have been kept.

The ratings for Game 2 were the lowest ever for any World Series game, period.

The ratings for Game 3 were worse.

That sound you hear is all of the old-school baseball purists gloating. The “we-told-you-so” vibe is no doubt deafening. Take a victory lap, but think about what you’re celebrating.

For the record, Game 1, played Friday night, averaged 9.172 million viewers on Fox. Game 2, a 9-1 Arizona blowout on Saturday, averaged 8.15 million viewers. Monday’s game, a 3-1 win for the Rangers, averaged 8.13 million viewers.

That ain’t great.

If you’re curious, the previous lowest-rated game was Game 3 of the 2020 World Series between the LA Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Rays, which was played in a “bubble” because of the pandemic.

Good problems: The DBacks won't let Greg Schulte retire

Are Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte not enough?

Yeah, yeah, we know — there aren’t enough big-name players on either team. Neither team deserved to be here; they’re both wild-card teams. The playoff structure needs to be ditched and remade in the image of, I don’t know, Ty Cobb or somebody.

It’s just ridiculous. No LA Dodgers, New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox. No, none of the teams that won 100 games during the regular season made it to the World Series. Oh well. Doesn’t your heart just break?

Please.

If watching Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte and Adolis Garcia and Corey Seager doesn’t sound appealing, can you really call yourself a baseball fan? Or are you just a fan of how things used to be?

There is no reason to believe that the ratings for Games 4 and 5 will be any better. If the series goes seven games, it’ll get a bit of a bump, just because Game 7 is its own sort of magic.

But the ratings won’t be huge even then. This series is more of a test for baseball fans. If watching the old guard is more important to you than watching great games, you fail.

Reach Goodykoontz at [email protected]. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. X, formerly known as Twitter: @goodyk.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: World Series ratings improve for Game 5. Small comfort for DBacks