Game seven of the closely contested American League Championship Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays drew the largest ever TV audience of any MLB playoff game aired on cable, Nielsen reported Tuesday.  
The game, which aired on TBS Sunday night, drew almost 13.4 million average viewers, easily surpassing game four of last year’s Indians v. Yankees division series, which claimed second place overall with 9.2 million average viewers.
TV viewership of the ALCS games surged after the Red Sox overcame a seven-run deficit in game five to beat the …

In the game one matchups for the National League and American League division playoffs, the Chicago Cubs v. Los Angeles Dodgers game drew the largest TV audience: nearly 5.4 million viewers.

Game
Network
Viewers P2+

CUBS- DODGERS
TBSC
5,381,000

RED SOX-ANGELS
TBSC
4,442,000

BREWERS-PHILLIES
TBSC
2,764,000

WHITE SOX-RAYS
TBSC
2,610,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 3, 2008).

This week begins Major League Baseball playoffs in the National League (Philadelphia Phillies vs. Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Chicago Cubs) and American League (Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels and Chicago White Sox vs. Tampa Bay Rays).
Historically, at least where league championship series are involved, ratings have been significantly higher when teams from major markets, such as Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles, are involved. A breakdown of those matchups will be featured prior to the upcoming NL and AL championship series.
Below are historical ratings since 2000 …

Each week, Nielsen Sports’ analysts offer their take on the biggest sports media headlines.
Ryder Cup Golf — Minus Tiger
Last Friday morning, 1.4 million ESPN viewers tuned in to Ryder Cup golf coverage from Louisville, Kentucky.  With the world’s best golfer, Tiger Woods, sidelined, golf fans were introduced to Team USA Captain Paul Azinger’s rag-tag group of Ryder Cup rookies.  On Saturday, Ryder Cup’s TV audience more than doubled — an average of 3.2 million viewers tuned in to watch the tournament action on NBC, and on Sunday, 3.9 million NBC viewers watched …