The television ratings for the World Series are in and needless to say they are not good.
The 11.1 national average (12.1 million homes) for White Sox vs. Astros trailed the previous low, an 11.9 rating for Anaheim-San Francisco in 2002. (Red Sox-Cardinals last season averaged a 15.8.)
The good news for Fox: It beat the other networks all four nights during the World Series, and it beat this year's Spurs-Pistons NBA Finals rating on ABC (8.1 average). And keep in mind that most noncable ratings have declined in recent years.
This had to be expected. There are 6 million people in South Florida without power and approximately 1 million from Louisiana displaced. Game three ends at 2:20 AM EST and the other three ended after midnight. Having a short series on top of that is not the recipe for high ratings.
12.1 million homes, that's about right. 2 million homes in the Houston area plus 3.5 million homes in the Chicago area (figuring some the Cubs fans won't watch) plus 6.6 million hard core baseball fans, such as us, the numbers add up. Everyone else in the nation either without power, not caring or wondering why they were playing midnight baseball.