The skies opened on the opening day of the Major League Baseball in more than one night.
With the Biblical-scale rain falling in the National Park on Thursday, the long-awaited delayed coronavirus matchup between the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals to launch the 2020 season was cut short. However, if the record audience on ESPN is any indication, the fervor of fans in a live sports-deprived United States was intense and heavy.
With an audience of 4 million, the primetime game on the Disney-owned sports cable now stands as the most viewed MLB opening night broadcast, according to Nielsen. 8% more than the previous record set by the St. Louis Cardinals against the Chicago Cubs in 2017, last night the Yankees’ 4-1 win over six innings increased an almost unbelievable 232% of the opening night stream 2019 between the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners
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Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants join Yankees and Nationals saluting the Black Lives Matter movement on opening day
Overall, with a very wide launch from Dr. Anthony Fauci, Thursday’s drenched opening game was the most watched professional baseball game since 2011, peaking at 4.5 million viewers in the space of 8:30 PM ET.
Like the Yankees and Nationals game, the ensuing showdown between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers began with players who got down on their knees and offered solidarity to the Black Lives Matter movement. Also like the previous game, the Dodgers’ 8-1 victory over their Northern California rivals was one of the record books, and not just because of the lack of fans in the stands.
With an average audience of 2.8 million, the kickoff game at 10 p.m. ET is now ESPN’s most watched MLB regular season night showdown.
If that data wasn’t enough for the glory of the double header, the first game scored 8.4 in the DC market, making it the highest rated ESPN regular season MLB game in the region. On top of that, the second game earned a rating of 6.8 in the City of Angels. That makes it the highest-rated ESPN regular-season MLB game on the Los Angeles market, with the exception of the dramatic playoff game against the Colorado Rockies on October 1, 2018.
With that, MLB’s bizarre comeback continues tonight with ESPN raising the game to a triple.
