Lowest World Series Ratings

[ehh]

Re: Lowest World Series Ratings

Things need to change because when the "National Pastime" can't draw an audience, there's a serious problem.

Especially considering the first three games have been very, very good. Fundamental baseball, the game being played the way it's suppose to.

But I guess American doesn't want to see that, they prefer 4.5 hour slugfests between the Yanks and Sox where a pitcher can't last more than four innings.

[mjb2124]

Re: Lowest World Series Ratings

Especially considering the first three games have been very, very good. Fundamental baseball, the game being played the way it's suppose to.

But I guess American doesn't want to see that, they prefer 4.5 hour slugfests between the Yanks and Sox where a pitcher can't last more than four innings.

I agree. Game 2 and 3 were some excellent baseball games. Game 2 ends with a walkoff HR in the bottom of the 9th after the Astros scored 2 in the top of the 9th to tie the game. Game 3 goes 14 innings and is the longest WS game in history (I think?).

Those are some pretty exciting games. No one is interested for some reason. I thought there would be more interest due to the Shoeless Joe Jackson scandal and the Astros never reaching the WS in their history. However, FOX isn't discussing this as much as I thought they would (unlike when the Red Sox went and I heard about the Curse of the Bambino every game).

[Dice]

Re: Lowest World Series Ratings

Time probably doesn't make a difference in ratings (holding the ratings from start to finish would be different though). It's just not easy for those of us on the East Coast to stay up to watch these games. I don't know when last night's game ended, but it was entirely too late for someone who has to get up at 6am for work.

I actually prefer NOT to see the Yanks or Red Sox in the WS. It's nice to see different teams, but it's also pretty sad that 2 teams who haven't been in a WS in ages, can't draw an audience. I think it says a lot about how the WS is viewed and how FOX has marketed it.

Things need to change because when the "National Pastime" can't draw an audience, there's a serious problem.

One of the big problems would be that neither the Astros nor the White Sox have marketable players. In their prime Biggio and Bagwell would have been BUT since they're over the hill they really can't market them as much. As for the White Sox the most marketable personality is not a player BUT the manager Ozzie Gullien. And the only reason why Ozzie would be marketable is because of his personality, which is not really liked by conservative people because Ozzie is far from conservative. His personality reminds me of Charles Barkley. Just like Charles he's really not liked BUT when he speaks from his heart everyone is interested at what he's going to say. And that's what makes him marketable.

I'm a die-hard White Sox fan and I could really care less what other markets outside of Chicago think about the 2005 World Series. In Chicago there is a Sox buzz and even though we still won't be as lovable as the Cubbies in this town but it will be noted that the White Sox play in 'Chicago' and not just the 'southside'.

[Stoud]

Re: Lowest World Series Ratings

Well there are a few factors:

1) as much as people bitch about them the Red Sox and Yankees sure grab a lot of fairweather fans/casual fans to watch the games. You can't deny that.

2) FOX is doing a horrible job at presenting the games. This is the 2nd year in a row where i'm watching the MLB International feed of the World Series thanks to Buck and McCarver. FOX needs announcers who are more knowledgable about the games in which they call. I'd love it if they tried to steal some of the ESPN guys, Dan Shulman in particular.

3) The start times are horrible. I know they want the primetime slot but let's face it, 8:30 is too late for the majority of east coast audiences which make up a huge percentage of the audience. I'd love it if they did an afternoon game but that's not going to happen. I would be happy if they had 7 or 7:30 start times.

Agreed on all fronts. I live on the West Coast and even I can easily admit that the East Coast takes alot of the cake when it comes to Baseball fans. When you aren't garnering for the majority of your fans, you're not going to make much money. playing times for the West Coast are great....now if only more people on the West Coast cared. Lately the AL West has been a bummer in alot of ways, and the NL West were going on with the "still have a losing record" stuff all year. It just sucks, really. Start times should be 2-3 in the afternoon here.

[rsox]

Re: Lowest World Series Ratings

A big reason ratings are down is because it doesn't feature the Yanks or Red Sox. Any WS that doesn't feature either team isn't going to be a "sexy" matchup. But I'm a little bit surprised the WS ratings are so low because Chicago and Houston are major US markets in terms of population. It's not like it's a Royals vs. Brewers matchup.

The problem is it's the wrong Chicago team. If it was the Cubs playing right now with the chance to end nearly a century of misery the ratings would be better if not, similar to last year.

[fsquid]

Re: Lowest World Series Ratings

I recently just moved to the EAstern Time Zone and I can barely stay up for the end of games. No chance for game 3. In last nights clincher, I was yelling at them to hurry up so I could go to bed.

[Dice]

Re: Lowest World Series Ratings

The problem is it's the wrong Chicago team. If it was the Cubs playing right now with the chance to end nearly a century of misery the ratings would be better if not, similar to last year.

The Sox futility wasn't far off. 88 years ain't nothing to sneeze at.

[Beantown]

Re: Lowest World Series Ratings

The Sox futility wasn't far off. 88 years ain't nothing to sneeze at.

The difference is no one outside White Sox fans knows/cares about their curse. Everyone who was anyone knew about the Red Sox curse and most baseball fans know about the Cubs struggles, but honestly, I don't think a lot of people realize the White Sox' history.

[Air23]

Re: Lowest World Series Ratings

You would think with the movie 'Eight Men Out' they would know of the Sox's history.

[Beantown]

Re: Lowest World Series Ratings

You would think with the movie 'Eight Men Out' they would know of the Sox's history.

You would think, but as has been pointed out, casual baseball fans down see baseball movies, They watch the Red Sox because they've heard of the Bambino. They watch the Yankees because they've won so much.

Small-ball baseball with non-marketable players doesn't sell.