MLB heads into the final week of the regular season with a number of Wild Card scenarios still alive — particularly on the AL side — and those races have paid off for teams over the last month in terms of local TV audience.

Among the AL teams that have legitimately had a shot at an AL Wild Card over the last month, local game viewership has jumped 11%, while those chasing a spot in the NL have seen a collective 12% increase. Those gains come even as football season has gotten underway.

Even with a comfortable lead in the AL Wild Card, the Yankees have led all teams with a 32% uptick from August to September on YES Network. Helping fuel that was the Sept. 11-13 series against the Mets, which marked the best Subway Series in four years and a 58% increase over the 2025 series with the Mets. The first game in this year’s series (around a half-million viewers) was the best figure for a prime-time program on a N.Y.-based RSN since Oct. 4, 2022, when Aaron Judge hit his 62nd home run.

Despite a mess around their streaming of games, the Rangers are up 23% in pursuit of not only a Wild Card spot but the AL West title. And while the Twins have slipped in the standings, the team has jumped 15% this month.

“The American League is really the story, here because you have the dynamic of one division that’s clearly better than the others,” said Matthew Versichelli, Playfly’s manager/insights and strategy.

Over on the NL side, the Pirates have dropped off from contention, but that hope given to Pittsburgh fans paid off, as SportsNet Pittsburgh was up 23% over August to lead all teams in the Wild Card race. The Cubs and Phillies are also seeing a 17% jump, with NBC Sports Philadelphia getting a big boost from a four-game Braves series to start the month (the Phillies also easily lead all MLB teams in local audience).

“It speaks as much to Pittsburgh as a city buying and loving sports and craving success as much as it is the Pirates specifically,” said Gregg Liebman, Playfly’s head of insights.

Having run away with the team’s 13th NL West title in 14 years, the Dodgers are up 20% this month.

The White Sox are neck and neck with the Guardians, but games on Chicago Sports Network are down 12% this month. The South Siders had big numbers for the Crosstown Series with the Cubs in August, which was a big factor in the decline. The Astros also have a small lead on the Rangers and are down 1% on Space City Home Network.

The Red Sox are down in September, but they are still 41% above the first half of the season. Also, August included high-profile series on NESN against the Dodgers and Yankees. September for the Red Sox has also featured a higher concentration of day games (almost 46%, compared with 29% in August).