Game 5 of the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros crushed Sunday Night Football in ratings.
More than 18.9million viewers tuned in to watch the Astros win 13-12 in the 10th inning during the game on Sunday that aired on Fox. It was also the second highest-rated Game 5 since 2003.
The game received a strong 12.8 overnight TV rating on Fox, easily beating NBC’s Sunday Night Football telecast that drew a 9.4 Nielsen rating for the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Detroit Lions, according to Austin Karp of Sports Business Daily.
He added that the numbers for the MLB game did not come in for the Boston, Massachusetts and Hartford, Connecticut markets due to a strong storm pounding the region and that the likelihood is the baseball rating is even higher.
Game 5 of the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros beat Sunday Night Football in ratings (above)
More than 18.9million viewers tuned in to watch the Astros win 13-12 in the 10th inning during the game on Sunday that aired on Fox (above)
NBC said the Sunday Night Football ratings also did not include the Boston, Hartford and Providence markets.
This is the first time the World Series beat Sunday Night Football since 2013, according to Sports Media Watch. Back then, the Cubs vs Indians Game 3 drew a 15.3 overnight rating beating the Cowboys vs Eagles’ 11.6 rating.
Game 5 was also the second-longest World Series game in history taking almost five-and-a-half hours for it to end.
It was also the second-longest World Series game in history taking five and 17 minutes for it to end.
The game received a strong 12.8 overnight TV rating on Fox, easily beating NBC’s Sunday Night Football telecast that drew a 9.4 Nielsen rating for the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Detroit Lions (above)
The World Series, now 3-2, returns to Los Angeles on Tuesday night. The Astros are within one game of winning their first World Series victory.
Dodgers reliever Ross Stripling was confident as the World Series headed back to California.
‘If we can just hold them to less than 12 runs, we’ll get some wins,’ he said playfully.
Los Angeles players seemed dazed after Sunday night’s 13-12, 10-inning loss to the Astros, which gave Houston a 3-2 Series lead.
The World Series, now 3-2, returns to Los Angeles on Tuesday night. The Astros are within one game of winning their first World Series victory. Pictured left is Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw and right is Houston Astros’ Alex Bregman celebrating after hitting the game winning single during Game 5
Astros felt ecstatic and energized, Dodgers drained and dispirited after 5 hours, 17 minutes that resembled Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots transferred from a ring to a diamond.
‘Baseball is a sport of momentum,’ said Houston’s Brian McCann, who started the winning rally when he was hit by Kenley Jansen’s pitch with two outs in the 10th at Minute Maid Park.
Los Angeles wasted leads of 4-0, 7-4 and 8-7. The Astros surged ahead 11-8 and 12-9 before the Dodgers tied the score in the ninth on Yasiel Puig’s two-run homer and Chris Taylor’s two-out single on a 2-2 pitch.
Bouncing back from a rugged defeat in the Series can be difficult. Boston was twice within a strike of its first title since 1918 before losing Game 6 in 1986 by a 6-5 score when Mookie Wilson’s grounder went through the legs of first baseman Bill Buckner. The Red Sox wasted a three-run lead to the New York Mets in an 8-5 loss in the finale.
‘We had the game won,’ Boston outfielder Dave Henderson said after Game 6. ‘I’m beginning to think somebody up there is writing the script to make it interesting.’