ESPN announced yesterday that the Boston Red Sox’ 6-2 win over the New York Yankees Tuesday night was the highest-rated Major League Baseball Game on an ESPN platform since 1998.
The game telecasts across ESPN and ESPN2 averaged 7.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen. The game peaked with 8.4 million viewers from 10:15-10:30 p.m.
Tuesday night’s total viewership is up 67 percent from the last time ESPN and ESPN2 televised a Wild Card Game, in 2019, when the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Oakland Athletics 5-1. The telecast drew 4.6 million viewers. Additionally, it was the most-streamed MLB event ever on ESPN platforms with 73.6 million minutes consumed digitally.
ESPN and ESPN2’s presentation of the game delivered a 19.8 rating in the Boston market, making it the most-watched Red Sox game on ESPN platforms since 2009. In the New York market, it delivered an 11.2 rating which is the best rating for a Yankees game on ESPN platforms since 2017.