Yankees-Dodgers Game 2 hits 13.44 million viewers, marking highest Game 2 ratings since 2018’s Dodgers-Red Sox clash
The 2024 World Series showdown between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers has got many hooked to their television sets. It comes as no surprise that two big market teams colliding for the Fall Classic title have resulted in record numbers in terms of TV ratings.
According to numbers released from the official broadcaster of the World Series, Fox Sports, Game 2 averaged 13.44 million viewers, the highest for Game 2 since the 2018 World Series clash between the Boston Red Sox and the Dodgers (13.5 million average viewers).
According to Fox, Game 2 recorded its highest viewership at 11 p.m. until the time the game ended. This was also the time when the Yankees were trying to erase the 4-1 deficit in the seventh inning. Moreover, at around the same time, Shohei Ohtani's stolen base attempt resulted in a shoulder injury, which made him leave the game.
The game saw the Yankees score a run in the top of the ninth to cut the deficit to 4-1. However, the Dodgers held on and came out as a 4-2 winner to take a 2-0 lead in the best of seven series. For context, last year's World Series Game 2 only averaged 8.15 million viewers. And this year, with 13.44 million viewers, it was a 65% uptick.
Reason behind peak TV ratings in Dodgers vs. Yankees 2024 World Series
According to Forbes, the first two games of the World Series held at Dodger Stadium have averaged 14.54 million viewers. It's the best two game start since 2017.
Apart from the best of the matchups, featuring two best teams of each league (National and American League), both teams have big fanbases. The NYC market is approximately 19 million, while the LA market has 15.7 million people, per Forbes. The same report mentioned that 55% of them watching TV in LA tuned into Game 2 and 32% in NYC did the same.
In comparison, last year's World Series featuring the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks had relatively smaller markets (5.1 million in Phoenix and 7.5 million in Dallas-Fort Worth). The numbers will only improve with the series heading to New York on Monday.