2008 in review: MLB.

http://sportsmediawatch.blogspot.com/2008/12/2008-in-review-mlb.html

2008 was a record setting year in Major League Baseball, but not in a
good way.

Ratings for Major League Baseball sank to record lows in 2008. Regular
season games on FOX averaged a 2.0 rating, the lowest average ever for
regular season games on broadcast. The ALCS and NLCS were the second
and third least viewed League Championship Series ever, with the NLCS
finishing as the least viewed LCS ever on broadcast.

To top things off, ratings for the World Series plunged to the lowest
levels in history. Even though the Phillies/Rays World Series was
expected to draw record low ratings, the depth to which the numbers
fell was surprising. None of the five games in the series drew a
double-digit rating. Game 2 drew a mere 8.1, at that point the second-
lowest rating ever for a World Series game. Game 3, delayed until 10
PM on a Saturday night due to rain, broke the record by drawing a 6.1.

Overall, the World Series averaged an 8.4 rating on FOX, down 21% from
2007, and off 17% from the previous record low of 10.1 set during the
2006 series. The World Series, the crown jewel of America's pastime,
had a lower rating than the NBA Finals, the final round of The
Masters, the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, the Daytona 500, the
BCS and the Final Four.

Not a single baseball game drew a double-digit rating in the year
2008.

What does this mean for Bud Selig? Nothing fatal; the NBA and NHL
bounced back from record lows in 2007 to draw strong ratings in 2008.
One positive sign for MLB going forward is the possible resurgence of
the biggest draw in the sport, the New York Yankees. It is no surprise
that the record low ratings set this year coincided with the Yankees
missing the playoffs for the first time since 1993. With the Yankees
making several big name free agent signings during the offseason,
there is every possibility the team could make a deep playoff run in
2009. The presence of the Yankees in the playoffs, and potentially in
the World Series, would go a long way to improving the ratings for
Major League Baseball games.

Off the field, it was a fairly uneventful year. While the aftermath of
the Mitchell Report led to intense coverage in the first two months of
the year, it was barely talked about during the season. Barry Bonds
and Roger Clemens, the subjects of intense media scrutiny in 2007 and
through the early part of this year, were virtually forgotten by the
All Star Break.

The same cannot be said for next year. Bonds goes on trial for perjury
in March, and Clemens is currently under investigation for possible
perjury. There is little doubt that the two former stars will be the
centers of attention in the baseball world at some point next year.

MLB can look back at 2008 as the year when the Fall Classic fell back
to the pack. While its easy to isolate the low ratings as being due to
one bad matchup, keep in mind that the World Series has drawn record
low ratings five times this decade. While America may hate the New
York Yankees, their presence in the playoffs next year could be just
what the doctor ordered to juice the ratings.