Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider celebrates with players and coaches in the locker room after beating the New York Yankees in Game 4 of the American League Division Series on Wednesday in New York.Frank Franklin II/The Associated Press
Sportsnet kicked off a new hockey season this week, but it is baseball that is bringing in huge audiences for the channel. On Thursday, the network announced it had pulled in an average of 3.7 million viewers for the four games of the American League Division Series featuring the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Rogers Communications Inc-owned channel, citing the ratings agency Numeris, said in a post on social media that an average of 3.8 million viewers watched Wednesday’s final game, in which the Jays defeated the New York Yankees 5-2 to take the series three games to one.
It added that the series “reach” – a measure of the number of viewers who tuned in for at least a small segment of time – hit 11.5 million.
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Those numbers mean the Jays are pulling in more viewers than some of their U.S. counterparts during the baseball playoffs, in a market that is about one-eighth the size of the total American TV audience.
The Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners pulled in about 3 million viewers for Game 1 and 3.5 million for Game 2 of their ALDS on the U.S. channel FS1. The first game in the Los Angeles Dodgers-Philadelphia Phillies NLDS drew 3.8 million on TBS. The Jays-Yankees pulled in 4 million for Game 1 on Fox and 2.2 million for Game 2 on FS1.
Sportsnet also noted in its announcement on Thursday that an average of 2.9 million viewers stuck around after the Blue Jays’ victory to watch team personnel soak each other – as well as a collection of TV cameras and hapless reporters – with bubbly and beer in a raucous celebration in the visiting clubhouse of Yankee Stadium.
Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette (left to right), first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and shortstop Andres Gimenez celebrate in the locker room at Yankee Stadium.Brad Penner/Reuters
The festivities proved unintentionally historic in another way, as the network aired team manager John Schneider congratulating his players with a stream of profanity that concluded with his relatively clean declaration: “Start spreading the news … we’re going to the ALCS!”
A number of Blue Jays, their tongues perhaps loosened by the alcohol and their coach’s example, followed suit with their own blue streak during a series of interviews with broadcaster Hazel Mae, despite her warning each of them off the top: “We’re live on Sportsnet.”
The channel’s in-studio personnel chuckled about the episode, though Sportsnet’s Jamie Campbell apologized on behalf of the network to viewers who may have been offended by the enthusiastic outbursts that were clipped by social media users and shared widely.
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Live sports events are rarely broadcast with any delay, especially in an era in which bettors expect up-to-the-second information to ensure their wagers are accurate.
With the strong ratings for the opening series, Sportsnet is well positioned for as long as the Jays’ Cinderella run continues. In October, 2015, the network set a new series of viewership records as the Jays won a nailbiter ALDS 3-2 against the Texas Rangers and then lost the ALCS to the Kansas City Royals in six games. The final game of the second series pulled in a then-record average audience of 5.12 million.
That high water mark has since been eclipsed by a number of hockey games broadcast on the channel.