The Dodgers-Blue Jays World Series had record-setting ratings. Here’s what it means
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- Game 7 drew a record 51 million viewers across the U.S., Canada and Japan, the most-watched MLB game since the 1991 World Series.
- The series’ 34 million average viewers made it the largest global World Series audience since 1992, bolstered by record international viewership from Japan and Canada.
- Los Angeles led all U.S. markets in World Series ratings.
Two years ago, the Dodgers set out to become Japan’s team. The Toronto Blue Jays are Canada’s team.
When the two teams collided in this year’s World Series, the ratings hit the stratosphere.
The deciding Game 7 of the World Series attracted a record 51 million viewers across the United States, Canada and Japan, Major League Baseball said Wednesday, making it the most-watched MLB game since Game 7 of the 1991 World Series.
The series averaged 34 million viewers across the three countries, the largest global audience for the World Series since 1992. The audience outside the U.S. was the largest ever — even with other countries yet to be tallied.
For the most part, the core of the 2026 Dodgers shouldn’t change much. But the Dodgers have work to do and decisions to make as they attempt to defend their title again next year.
In the U.S. alone, an average of 16.1 million viewers watched each game, an increase from last year even with the New York Yankees out and a Canadian team in. (The series was a more dramatic seven games this year and five last year, which helped.)
For the third consecutive year and fifth time in six years, the World Series had a higher rating than the NBA Finals — this year, 56% higher.
The strong World Series ratings — and attendance that rose for the fourth consecutive year — underscore the risk owners would take if they locked out players next winter and shut down the sport in a quest for a salary cap.
After a work stoppage that cost the league the end of the 1994 season and the start of the 1995 season, average attendance did not rebound to pre-strike levels until 2006. Attendance soon dipped again as game times routinely crept past three hours — the pitch clock has solved that — and amid the pandemic.
Even with the recent gains, attendance remains 10% below its 2007 peak.
The Atlanta Braves, despite missing the playoffs for the first time since 2017, announced Wednesday that 2025 revenues through Sept. 30 had hit $671 million — up 10% from last year — and profits had hit $36 million.
The Braves’ revenues included $71 million from the Battery, their ballpark-adjacent development that depends largely upon selling three million tickets to Braves games every year. (As a publicly traded company, the Braves are legally required to release financial data; the Dodgers and most other teams are not.)
Los Angeles led all U.S. television markets in World Series ratings, followed in order by San Diego, Seattle, St. Louis and Milwaukee, according to Fox data.
The Dodgers had the resources and talent to win back-to-back World Series. But it took something else to help them conquer the mental and physical test of beating the Toronto Blue Jays.
Both the current and future homes of the Athletics — Sacramento and Las Vegas, respectively — ranked among the top 10.
In Japan, a country with one-third the population of the U.S., the World Series averaged 9.7 million viewers. In Canada, a country with one-tenth the population of the U.S., the series averaged 8.1 million viewers.
The Game 7 broadcast in Canada was the most-watched of any English-language broadcast on record aside from the 2010 Winter Olympics, which were held in Vancouver.
