NEW YORK (AP) — Monday night’s 18-inning marathon between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays in Game 3 of the World Series averaged 11.31 million viewers in the U.S. according to Nielsen, Fox and MLB. That is a 17% decline from the audience of last year’s third game between the Dodgers and New York Yankees, and it wasn’t the most-watched program of the night.
The “Monday Night Football” game between the Washington Commanders and Kansas City Chiefs averaged 17.6 million on ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and NFL+ streaming, making it the highest MNF Week 8 audience since Washington at Dallas in 2014.
It was the 10th time since 1986 that a World Series game was played on a Monday night, but only the fifth that it went head-to-head against “Monday Night Football” on network television.
It is the second time in three years the NFL beat the Fall Classic on Monday night.
Even though the extra innings were in prime time on the West coast, the length of the game likely had an impact in the viewer average as it ended near 3 a.m. in the Eastern time zone.
The viewership numbers aren’t all bad for MLB though. The combined 17.62 million average in the U.S. and Canada for the Dodgers’ 6-5 victory over the Blue Jays on Freddie Freeman’s 18th-inning home run off Brendon Little was a 27% increase from last year.
Through three games, the World Series is averaging 18.73 million combined viewers in the U.S. and Canada, a 25% jump.
Blue Jays games in Canada are being aired on Sportsnet. The network is owned by Rogers Communications Inc., the parent company of the Blue Jays.
According to Fox, the audience in the U.S. peaked at 13.17 million as the game went into extra innings (11:30-11:45 p.m. EDT).
The Dodgers’ 3-2 18-inning victory over the Red Sox in 2018 averaged 13.3 million.
Game 3 ratings for Japan were not available as of Wednesday evening. The Japanese average for the first two games was 10.7 million.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb