Random Take Tuesday – Blog

Game 1 of the 2024 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees was watched by 15.2 million viewers on Fox television.

That number was up 62 percent compared to the first game last year, when 9.35 million watched the Diamondbacks and Rangers. It was the most-watched World Series opening game since Astros-Dodgers with 15.33 million viewers in 2017.

A Baseball America article called the viewership “huge” and noted that the overall average World Series viewership for the series often exceeds Game 1's number.

BA said: “While 2016's average viewership of 22.8 million is unlikely to be surpassed, an average of 15 million viewers would eclipse any current World Series.” Last year's Rangers-Diamondbacks World Series averaged 9.1 million Viewers per game were a record low of 9.1 million viewers per game, and there hasn't been a World Series with an average viewership of more than 12 million since 2019. An average viewership of 15 million would be the third-highest since 2010, which is impressive considering that television viewership for everything other than football has declined dramatically over the past decade due to the decline of cable television and the rise of streaming services and social media are.”

According to Sports Media Watch, Saturday's Game 2 averaged 13.44 million viewers on FOX (13.8 million across all Fox Sports platforms). That was the largest viewership for Game 2 since Dodgers-Red Sox in 2018 (13.51 million) and a 65% increase over last year's record low of 8.15 million for Diamondbacks-Rangers.

This note is also quite positive. According to MLB, younger audiences are responsible for the significant increase in viewership at this year's World Series. The first two games of the World Series saw a 93 percent increase in viewership among U.S. 18- to 34-year-olds. Compared to last year's WS, the group of 18 to 34 year olds recorded the largest increase of all demos.

Another international note: When I wrote yesterday about some of the infusions the O's international program has recently received here, I noted that the O's have now signed five players to seven-figure bonuses under Mike Elias and Koby Perez.

*Luis Almeyda signed on 1/15/23 for $2.3 million.

* Braylin Tavera signed for $1.7 million on 1/15/22.

*Samuel Basallo signed on 1/15/21 for $1.3 million.

* Emilio Sanchez signed on 1/15/24 for $1.3 million.

* Maikol Hernández signed on 1/15/21 for $1.2 million.

Almeyda, 18 years old, is not among MLBPipeline.com's top 30 prospects cited here yesterday. He played in the Florida Complex League in 2024, hitting .200/.337/.316/.653 in 53 games.

Tavera was ranked No. 16 by MLBPipeline. He played in 87 games this season, including 84 for Low-A Delmarva. He batted .173/.296/.213/.509 for the Shorebirds.

Basallo is now known to almost every O's fan. This season, he posted a .790 OPS in 127 games between Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk. It is very likely that he will be added to the Orioles' roster sometime in 2025.

Sanchez, 17, is ranked the No. 17 O's prospect by Baseball America and No. 24 by MLBPipeline. In 48 games in the Dominican Summer League, he hit .212/.416/.281/.697 with 48 walks and 35 strikeouts and had a walk rate of 23.6.

Hernandez was unranked by both media outlets. He has struggled to hit in four seasons now with the Orioles, mostly in short playing time, although he played 62 games for Delmarva this year. In those games with the Shorebirds, he hit .179/.282/.244/.526. In 196 career games since 2021, he has a .182 average and a .549 OPS.

Will Judge get going in Game 3?: That was the question facing Yankees slugger Aaron Judge before last night's World Series game.

Judge was so dominant in the regular season that he went 2-for-13 in the American League Division Series, 3-for-18 in the AL Championship Series, and 1-for-9 with six strikeouts in the first two games of the World Series.

During his regular season dominance, Judge hit six home runs with a 1.451 OPS in 12 games against the Orioles. But in the playoffs, he chased pitches and seemed to miss fairly hittable pitches in the zone. It must be a very strange sight for any O's pitcher or fan.

Yankees lose again: They didn't score until the ninth inning, and no, Judge didn't get going as the Dodgers beat the Yankees 4-2 and took a 3-0 lead in World Series games. The Dodgers, defeated by the Orioles in 1966, are coming off a four-game sweep tonight in the Bronx.

Judge went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout, and nothing got better for him last night.

In MLB history, teams that took a 3-0 lead in a seven-game series went 39-1. The only team that actually lost was the Yankees, against Boston in the AL Championship Series in 2004. Current Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was on that Boston team.