World Series breaks ratings records, but not in the U.S.

Shohei Ohtani isn’t just lighting up the World Series, he’s lighting up TV screens around the world.

The Los Angeles Dodgers superstar helped push viewership to record levels, with an average of 10.7 million people in Japan tuning in to watch the Dodgers face off against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Japanese fans aren’t only tuning in for Ohtani. Excitement has also surrounded fellow countrymen Roki Sasaki and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who started Game 2 for Los Angeles and threw a perfect game to even the series. With three Japanese standouts playing key roles, the Dodgers have become must-watch TV across Japan.

Blue Jays Break Records in Canada

It’s not just Japan riding the World Series wave. North of the border, the Toronto Blue Jays set new viewership records with 6.8 million Canadian viewers, the largest audience ever for a Blue Jays game. The surge came as Toronto leveled the series at Dodger Stadium, keeping Canadian fans glued to their screens.

But in the United States, viewership dipped compared to last year’s blockbuster Yankees–Dodgers matchup. Fox reported 13.3 million viewers for Game 1 (down 13% from last year) and 11.6 million for Game 2 (down 16%).

When combining Fox’s U.S. numbers with Sportsnet’s Canadian broadcast, the total audience averaged 20.3 million viewers, a 34% increase over last year’s Game 1 between the Yankees and Dodgers.

Despite the ratings dip in the U.S., Game 1 of Dodgers–Blue Jays at Rogers Centre still ranked as the second most-watched World Series game since 2018, trailing only last year’s Yankees–Dodgers opener.

“There’s no expectation that this year’s matchup will match the New York–Los Angeles audience from 2024,” Fox Sports’ president of analytics and insights Mike Mulvihill admitted on social media.

The drop isn’t entirely surprising. The Yankees remain MLB’s most popular team, while the Dodgers rank third in North America. Even so, with Ohtani, Sasaki, and Yamamoto captivating fans worldwide, this year’s Fall Classic has proven that baseball’s reach is more global than ever before.

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