BRISTOL, Conn. The pandemic-delayed Major League Baseball opener was the sports most-watched regular-season game on any network in nine years.
The New York Yankees rain-shortened 4-1 win at the Washington Nationals on Thursday night averaged 4 million viewers on ESPN, according to Nielsen fast national ratings. The game peaked at 8:30 p.m. EDT with 4.48 million viewers.
No regular-season game had been viewed by that many since 4.7 million watched Boston beat the Yankees 3-2 in 10 innings on Aug. 7, 2011, also on ESPN.
ESPNs previous high for an opener was 3.7 million for a 2017 matchup between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs. Chicago tied the score with three runs in the ninth, and Randal Grichuck hit a walkoff single off Mike Montgomery in the bottom half. Seattles 12-4 victory over Boston on opening night last year was seen by 1.2 million on ESPN.
The Los Angeles Dodgers 8-1 win over San Francisco in the second game of Thursdays doubleheader averaged 2,764,000 viewers on ESPN. The network said it was its most-watched late-night Eastern time baseball telecast, topping the previous high of 1,817,000 for the Chicago Cubs 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 10, 2017, a game that ended on Anthony Rizzos single off Kenley Jansen.
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