Rangers-Diamondbacks Opener Marks Least-Watched World Series Game 1 in History

Despite most-watched League Championship Series since 2018, the World Series opener experiences a 20% viewership decline compared to 2022's opening game, reflecting a broader trend in low viewer numbers for World Series games.

The Texas Rangers' 6-5 extra-inning victory over Arizona Diamondbacks in the World Series opener averaged 9.35 million viewers across Fox platforms, setting a new low for Game 1 viewership in recorded history.
The previous lowest viewer count for a World Series opening game was 9.48 million in 2020, during the pandemic, for a game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays.
Despite the record low viewership for the opener, the World Series was the most-watched event on television on Friday night.
This decline in World Series viewership is contrary to the fact that baseball had its most-watched League Championship Series round since 2018, with postseason ratings overall rising by 3% to 7% compared to the previous year.
Factors influencing the low viewership could include the teams involved not being national draws based on historical television data and the game being held on Friday, one of the least-watched days of the week for television.