Baseball has found itself in a bit of a lull most seasons, but every playoff season always seems to breathe some life into the sport.
The 2016 World Series was one of the most anticipated match ups in recent memory, with seemingly most of the country watching in hopes that the Chicago Cubs could break the curse. The team had not, until last night, won a World Series since the early 1900s.
Coming back from being down 1-3 to the Cleveland Indians in the series, the Cubs had their work cut out for them, but took an early lead making a World Series title seem like a guarantee. But after a late Cleveland rally, the game seemed to be in anyone’s hands.
Going into extra innings, in an already exciting game seven, meant massive viewership numbers. Early estimates have suggested that over 40 million people tuned in to watch game seven, the most-watched baseball game since 1991.
Because there are so many regular season games, it’s rare to get such massive viewership numbers during every game, but with a World Series this good, and one everyone would be talking about the next day, it makes sense that these ratings would skyrocket. For comparison, game six of the series drew about 25 million viewers, so there was an obvious jump for the finale.