People Watch The Red Sox, Even When They Suck, And Other Things About MLB TV Ratings

Attendance is up, but local TV ratings were down six percent across Major League Baseball in 2012. Sports Business Daily has the full rundown of winners and losers. The Tigers were tops in average rating, with 9.13 percent of Detroit televisions tuned to FS Detroit during Tigers games, up 41.6 percent from last season. Behind the Tigers is a trio of NL Central teams: the Reds, Cardinals and Pirates. The Red Sox (yes, the bumbling, stumbling, 69-93, last place Red Sox) rounded out the top five.

The Astros had the worst ratings by audience share in the league, which shouldn't surprise you. Perhaps you'll be surprised that the Angels, with the phenomenal Mike Trout, and the AL West champion A's finished second- and third-to-last, respectively, but perhaps there are other things to do in California during the summer.

The data was released Monday, three days before the end of the season, at which point the Yankees were on pace for their lowest-rated season since 2003. Still, they averaged the largest audience in baseball, with 286,000 viewers per game. The Mets were a distant second with 178,000.

The Phillies, who finished at a disappointing 81-81, had the worst drop in ratings, down 38.6 percent, but their 5.61 average rating was good enough for seventh-best in the league. The Padres were the big losers, with the second-worst drop in ratings and the smallest average audience. Only 20,000 fans tuned in to Padres games, 6,000 fewer than actually went to the ballpark. Again, perhaps Californians have things to do during the summer that are more fun than baseball on TV.

Multiple story lines help lift Tigers to top of local TV ratings list [Sports Business Daily]