Boffo Box, Not

Google “2019 World Series ratings,” and you’re likely to find results with some form of the word “low,” especially “lowest,” in the title.  Bet you won’t find that breaking news splashed across the top of MLB.com.

According to ESPN, this World Series rates as the third-lowest viewed contest, behind 2012 (Giants’ sweep of Tigers) and 2008 (Phils over Rays in five).  If there’s a silver lining in this, it lies in the fact we’re talking TV only.  The absolute numbers will increase when total-platform views are added on, although that’s a little bit like adding apples to oranges.  Series’ platform views need to be compared to other platform views on a given night to get a relevant percentage, which I’m pretty sure will be pretty miniscule when compared to total platform viewing (and how I love talking like this).

What does it all mean, then?  Basically, people who sit down to watch television didn’t make much of an effort to watch baseball in late October.  Maybe viewers had something better to do with 3:45 of their time, give or take another fifteen minutes, depending on the game in question.  I can just see people in the commissioner’s office pouring over the numbers.  Forget TV, they’re probably telling themselves, we’re killing it on the tiny screen.  

And, in the end, isn’t that what we want, the game of baseball shrunk on a screen that fits in the palm of your hand?