World Series TV Ratings: How low will they go?

First the facts.

The lowest rated World Series game was game 3 in 2008, Phillies v.Rays.
The numbers there were beyond embarassing. 6.1 / 13 share.
Those are summer rerun viewer numbers.
As a matter of fact, no game in the 2008 World Series reached the double digits in the Nielsen numbers.
Nobody gave a crap about that series.

This is no slam on Philadelphia or their fans, but the Nielsen numbers say whenever Philly is involved, people don't watch.

The second lowest rated series was St. Louis and Detroit in 2006 then the Astros v. White Sox 2005

Not for nothing, the highest rated World Series game was game seven 1986, Mets. v. Red Sox those numbers were through the roof, they were better than most Super Bowls. 38.9 / 55 share means more than 1 out of every two TV's on had that game on.

Last time Giants were in the WS in 2002, nobody watched.
The first six games the numbers were in the toilet, the only time that series got a decent number was game seven, but even that was the least watched *game 7* in MLB history.

Rangers and Giants play in the fifth and sixth highest cities TV market wise.

The hard core baseball junkies will watch, that is a given.
Hard core Giant fans will watch, so will the Ranger fans.
That much is pretty much a done deal.

Will Mr. Joe Farmer in Ames Iowa, who is a casual, "I kinda like baseball, but football is my thing" put down his weekend NCAA and NFL games and tune in?
He didn't when the Astros, Tigers, Rays were involved.
Mr. Joe Farmer couldn't care less unless the Red Sox, Yankees, or Mets or Dodgers were involved.

Will Mrs. Joe Farmer tune into the World Series the same way she did when the Mets played the Red Sox?
Will she put down shows like 'Glee' and such?

RX Nation?
Answer this for me.

Who besides the passionate hard core baseball fans, and the Ranger and Giant supporters are going to be tuning in to this World Series?

Me thinks, Fox is going to take a beating advertising and ratings wise.
Me thinks the folks at ABC are rejoicing over this matchup.

Not to mention, those of us with Cablevision here on the East Coast will not see the WS if Cablevision and FOX do not resolve their contract dispute. We have been w/o FOX for a week and a half, and with the Yanks out the WS and the NY Football Giants on ESPN tomorrow night, there doesn't seem to be any signs of a resolution.

One correction to your post above: Women/housewives (Mrs. Joe Farmer) won't be faced with a choice between Glee and the WS because they are both on FOX. If the game is on, no Glee.

I know Glee is on Fox, I just used that show as an example, like Desperate Housewifes or something.
I'm lucky I get WTIC (Fox 25 Hartford) which is owned by Tribune but carries Fox shows, or I'd be dicked
Fox is holding Cablevision hostage, good point, NYC is the largest Fox outlet, they are getting killed.
This is not Cablevision's fault, they added Fox to their programming lineup for free years ago. Then they wanted 70 mil, Cablevision said, "yeah, OK whatever", now they want 150 mil...............

Fox will get destroyed in the ratings with this WS, I'll watch, most of the RX nation will look in, but this is not what they wanted.

I agree this series is probably not going to draw the casual fan, so FOX will get screwed.

I am an avid Yanks fan, love baseball in general, but I don't know if I will (or even want to) tune in (if Cablevision settles deal w/FOX). If they don't, no big deal for me. I have NHL CenterIce, so there's always a hockey game on.

For all the customer screwing Cablevision does, they get what they deserve, regardless of whose fault it is this time around. If I hadn't already paid for my CenterIce season package, I would've cancelled last weekend and had Verizon FIOS come in durirng the week.

Io Cablevision > Verizon Fios.

If you compare prices, terms and service, Fios can't hold a candle to Io

Why is the north east always having problems with the cable companies? Thank God for Comcast.

The baseball world got their wish: the New York Yankees are not in the World Series and parity played its part.

The San Francisco Giants with their 11th ranked payroll ($96,277,833), play host to the 25th ranked Texas Rangers ($64,810,570).

It is great to see new blood in the playoffs; however the ratings do not support that fact.
Game 1 pulled in a rating of 8.9 (approx 15 million viewers).

Compared to the lowest-rated World Series, Philadelphia Phillies-Tampa Bay Rays, that’s a drop off of 3 percent, and a 25 percent drop from last year’s New York Yankees-Phillies series (also Game 1)

To make matters worse, the ratings from Game 2 were not any better.

Game 2 pulled in an 8.5 or nearly 14.5 million viewers—still a 26 percent decrease from last year's Game 2.

According to an article published in USA TODAY, Bud Selig still has high hopes for the remaining games:
"MLB commissioner Bud Selig told Sirius XM Radio's Chris "Mad Dog" Russo Thursday that Giants-Rangers will draw 'great ratings' if it can build to a competitive five-game, six-game, or ideally, seven-game series."

I have to sit on the fence on this one. On one side, this is great for baseball—new players and more exposure. On the other hand, the Yanks and the Boston Red Sox are nowhere to be found and it does make it feel quite empty this October.

Sure there are great players: Josh Hamilton, the once untouchable Cliff Lee, “The Freak” Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and the ageless Edgar Renteria continuing to perform after 15 seasons.

There are also great teams: The Texas Rangers, who found themselves in dire straits financially, but stuck it out through 162 games; and the San Francisco Giants, looking for their first World Series title since 1954.

With all that said, for the viewers to be entertained and the ratings to increase, something magical needs to happen, and happen quickly.

Games 3 and 4 have to be ones for the ages. If Game 3 is a blowout with the Giants up 3-0 heading into Sunday night's game, competing head-to-head against Sunday Night Football, the numbers could be very, very unflattering.