The primary “swing-off” in Main League Baseball All-Star Recreation historical past wasn’t sufficient to avoid wasting the Midsummer Basic from a 3 p.c scores drop.
Tuesday night time’s recreation averaged a 3.8 score and drew 7.19 million viewers on Fox, in keeping with Nielsen, down from 7.44 million final yr and the second-fewest on document for the occasion. It was 3 p.c higher than the document low of seven million who tuned into the 2023 MLB All-Star Recreation.
MLB’s All-Star occasion nonetheless attracts much better than its counterparts, with this yr’s NBA All-Star Recreation and the NFL’s Professional Bowl Video games every averaging 4.7 million viewers. Monday night time’s Dwelling Run Derby drew 5.73 million viewers on ESPN.
The All-Star Recreation itself peaked with 8.1 million viewers within the 9:15 p.m. ET quarter-hour, per SportsMediaWatch.com, making it the most-watched program on Fox for the reason that Tremendous Bowl. It additionally featured the primary “swing-off” to find out the All-Star Recreation winner.
Every participant obtained three swings. Rooker launched two over the fence, whereas Stowers went 1-for-3. Arozarena then hit one, earlier than Kyle Schwarber despatched all three out to provide the NL a 4-3 working lead coming into the ultimate spherical. Aranda then went 0-for-3, clinching the weird Nationwide League victory — technically a 7-6 win — the league’s second All-Star Recreation triumph in three years after dropping the earlier 9.
A rule change in 2022 supplied what was left of the 41,702 followers with a spectacle they probably weren’t anticipating once they entered Truist Park in Atlanta.
“It was fascinating,” Schwarber mentioned after being named the Phillies’ first All-Star Recreation MVP since Johnny Callison in 1964. “Thrilling, enjoyable. There’s a number of guys who deserve this (trophy), however I am glad it is going residence with us to Philly.”
–Area Degree Media
