The Yankees and Red Sox always capture some level of national interest. Add championship implications to the mix, and it is a virtual certainty that people will be paying attention.
ESPN benefitted from that attention on Monday night. Boston’s 6-2 win in the American League Wild Card Game delivered an average audience of 7.11 million people for the network. Additional coverage on ESPN 2 and ESPN Deportes 583,000 and 144,000 viewers respectively.
The total television audience of 7.83 million makes the game the most-watched MLB telecast on ESPN since 1998. It also blows away the record for ESPN’s coverage of the Wild Card Game, which was previously held by the 2016 contest between the Mets and Giants.
Streaming numbers were also strong. Between the English and Spanish streams, the game’s digital audience topped 289,000.
The game delivered a 19.8 rating in Boston and an 11.2 in New York. It was both teams’ most watched ESPN game of the season in their home markets. In Boston, it was the most watched Red Sox game on ESPN since 2009.
