World Series Game 4: Philadelphia 39.0, Tampa Bay 27.5
Holding the trend in that the city that has the highest Nielsen ratings also has won the game, Philadelphia stands one game away from capturing what otherwise could be the least-watched World Series in the history of TV land.
Through four games, the World Series has a total rating average of 8.0 nationally, down 25 percent from last season (10.6) and 21 percent down from 2006 (10.1). The lowest-rated Series of all-time was 2006 -- 10.1 -- meaning there has never been a World Series that has averaged in single digits.
Game 4 chugged in with a 9.3 rating and 15 share -- best so far, with 15 million viewers attached without an NFL game in competition. In Los Angeles, it drew a 9.4 mark. The top 10 markets Sunday included Seattle (13.4) -- the first Western regional city to break into the list, at No. 3; Charlotte and Orlando (13.2), West Palm Beach (13.0), Minneapolis (11.8), Milwaukee (11.6), Phoenix, Salt Lake City and St. Louis (11.4).
But tonight's Game 5, which viewers may be conceeding to the Phillies as they finish off the Rays, will also have ESPN's coverage of Indianapolis-Tennessee against it head to head.
The rain-delayed Game 3 ended up with a 6.1 rating and 13 share, making it the lowest-rated World Series game ever (far below the 8.0 for Detroit-St. Louis Game 1 in '06, which was also on a Saturday night). Game 3 started past 10 p.m. EST and ended at 1:47 a.m. -- the latest start and finish of a World Series game. It did just a 28.2 in Philadelphia and 21.6 in Tampa-St. Petersburg.
And now, a graphic with the lowest rated World Series games ever.
6.1: Rays/Phillies Game 3 (Sat., 10/25/08, 10 PM Fox) Rain delayed
8.0: Cardinals/Tigers Game 1 (Sat., 10/21/06, 8 PM Fox)
8.1: Phillies/Rays Game 2 (Thu., 10/23/08, 8 PM Fox)
8.5: Red Sox/Rockies Game 3 (Sat., 10/24/07, 8 PM Fox)
9.2: Phillies/Rays Game 1 (Wed., 10/22/08, 8 PM Fox)
9.3: Rays/Phillies Game 4 (Sun., 10/26/08, 8 PM Fox)
While that was in a rain delay, ABC did a 7.2 for its Penn State-Ohio State college football game.
For four games, L.A. has averaged an 8.3 rating, 20th best of the 56 major markets.
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