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Game 7 of the Blue Jays-Dodgers World Series drew almost 26 million viewers. (Photo by Emilee Chinn\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
Baseball is clearly having a moment \u2014 a big one \u2014 and maybe the greatest proof of this is how the MLB is dominating the NBA in terms of viewership of the two leagues\u2019 respective finals. <\/p>\n
Both the MLB and NBA saw their best-of-seven championship series reach a Game 7 this year, with baseball\u2019s final game outdrawing the NBA\u2019s final one by nearly 10 million viewers. <\/p>\n
The Los Angeles Dodgers\u2019 wild 5-4 Game 7 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays averaged a combined 26 million viewers<\/a> on Fox, Fox Deportes and Fox Sports streaming services, according to Nielsen Panel Only Fast Nationals and Adobe Analytics. By comparison, the 2025 NBA Finals\u2019 Game 7 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers averaged 16.4 million viewers<\/a> on ABC, showing a staggering 58-percent gap in viewers between the two leagues\u2019 finale.<\/p>\n With final metrics still pending, the 2025 World Series projects to average around 15 million viewers per game, compared to the 10.27 million this year\u2019s NBA Finals averaged, the second-lowest on record.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s World Series finale \u2014 which ranks as the most-watched World Series game since 2017 \u2014 gained massive TV numbers despite competing against several high-profile college football games, while the NBA Finals aired in June, which is a notorious TV programming desert that offers little competition. <\/p>\n It marks the second consecutive year that the World Series has outdrawn the NBA Finals. In 2024, the Dodgers-Yankees World Series averaged 15.1 million viewers, compared to 11.2 million for the Celtics-Mavericks Finals.<\/p>\n Some are saying MLB\u2019s ratings spike indicates that baseball is the No. 2 sport in the nation, not basketball, behind football. \u201cIt appears baseball is firmly the number two sport in America. The World Series has demolished the NBA Finals over the last two years,\u201d Hardcore Baseball podcaster Matt McCarthy wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cThe pitch clock has changed everything and is bringing fans back. Conversely, I think fans are rejecting the style of play in the NBA.<\/p>\n And maybe more impressive than the U.S. viewership numbers, more than 18.5 million Canadians \u2014 nearly 45 percent of Canada\u2019s population \u2014 watched some or all of the World Series\u2019 Game 7, according to sportsnet.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n MLB\u2019s resurgence can be linked to an influx of young, marketable stars, most notably Dodgers two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani, who took the mound as his team\u2019s starting pitcher in the winner-takes-all Game 7. But it\u2019s not just the Dodgers and Ohtani driving baseball\u2019s ratings boom. The 2025 Wild Card \u2014 the first round of MLB\u2019s postseason \u2014 set viewership records<\/a> this year. In total, the 11 Wild Card Series games (all aired on ESPN networks) averaged 4.625 million viewers. That\u2019s a 64 percent jump from last year\u2019s Wild Card Series and highest average for the WCS round since the current format got officially introduced in 2022.<\/p>\n