Baseball Is Still Second-Rate

Everyone was a TV ratings winner in the battle of New York sports teams Monday night. The Yankees came out ahead in New York, and the Giants had the better national numbers.

Game 5 of the American League championship series between the Yankees and Seattle Mariners in New York went head-to-head Monday against the Giants and Philadelphia Eagles in East Rutherford, N.J. The Yankees won their fourth consecutive pennant and the Giants dropped to .500, losing, 10-9.

Tuesday’s overnight numbers revealed that baseball on Fox beat football on ABC in the New York market, producing a 22.6 rating and 32 share versus 8.9 and 13 for football.

Nationally, however, baseball trailed football.

“Monday Night Football” had its second-lowest rating ever but still came out ahead of baseball, recording a 9.9 rating and 16 share to 7.6 and 12 for baseball in the national overnight ratings.

Historically, “Monday Night Football” has maintained the edge against postseason baseball. Since 1996, postseason baseball on Fox has had higher ratings than “Monday Night Football” only once in 10 head-to-head matchups. The instance was Game 6 of the 1996 World Series between the Yankees and Atlanta Braves.

Monday Night Football’s lowest-rated game--an 8.8 rating and 14 share--also involved the Giants. It was between the Washington Redskins and Giants on Oct. 27, 1986, and went up against Game 7 of the World Series between the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox.

Fox’s coverage of the league championship series in prime time is up 20% from last year and, overall, up 1% from 2000.