The Aporia · Ratings for small-market Brewers-Rays World Series down only 6% through 2 games

Ratings for small-market Brewers-Rays World Series down only 6% through 2 games

Read the original at Toronto Star ↗

Cite

APA MLA Chicago

Reedy, J. (2026, October 27). Ratings for small-market Brewers-Rays World Series down only 6% through 2 games. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/fox-sports-brewers-rays-world-series-ratings-beat-fears-down-only-6-through-2-games/article_d199bbb6-eb7d-5864-95fd-1a6c403fbff8.html

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

Quick Summary

The World Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays has seen better-than-expected ratings through its first two games, down just 6% compared to last year's series. Game 1 drew an average of 12.26 million viewers, while Game 2 had 10.85 million viewers, both surpassing other nighttime broadcasts on their respective nights. Despite concerns about small-market teams leading to lower ratings, Fox Sports president Mike Mulvihill expresses satisfaction with the numbers and attributes interest to Milwaukee's consistent performance and recent victories over top contenders.

Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-28, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

The ratings for the current World Series matchup between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays are exceeding expectations, down only 6% compared to last year's series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays. Game 1 of this year’s series averaged 12.26 million viewers on Fox Sports platforms, while Game 2 drew an average of 10.85 million viewers, both excluding Univision coverage for Game 2. Despite concerns about low ratings due to the teams' small-market status, these numbers are significantly higher than the record-low set in the 2023 World Series between the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks, which averaged just 9.11 million viewers overall. Fox Sports president Mike Mulvihill expressed satisfaction with the current ratings, noting that few would have predicted such strong numbers given the teams involved.

Written for “Brewers-Rays World Series Ratings” on 2026-10-28, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Why this leaning score

This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.

No political leaning scored for article 110855 · logged 2026-10-28

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This article reads unscored and hedges 13% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.

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How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

13%

2 of 15 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

not political

takes no side on a contested political question

Publisher signals

64/100

Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Sports

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-10-28 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Who wrote this

Joe Reedy

45 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

🔮 I think very few people, including me, would’ve guessed that we’d be down 6% through two games.

2026-10-28 · assertive framing · Ratings for small-market Brewers-Rays World Series down only 6% through 2 games

🔮 Ohio State coach Ryan Day said Tuesday night that quarterback Julian Sayin will be out indefinitely after injuring his throwing arm in the fourth quarter Saturday against Indiana.

2026-10-21 · assertive framing · Ohio State QB Julian Sayin out indefinitely after injuring throwing arm

🔮 CLEVELAND (AP) — Todd Monken didn’t expect there would be as many growing pains with the Cleveland Browns’ offense as there have been through six games.

2026-10-20 · assertive framing · Monken says Browns' offense could be 'smoother,' but his 4-2 team has come through late in games

🔮 The biggest question is which pitcher will start Monday.

2026-10-19 · assertive framing · Guardians need 2 road wins to overcome deficit against Rays, just like they did against White Sox

🔮 The Rays will try to capture their third AL pennant and first since 2020 on Monday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

2026-10-19 · assertive framing · Rasmussen shines as Rays beat Guardians 3-1 to take 3-2 ALCS lead

🔮 “It looked like it may have snaked on him or just skipped by him, took his eye off of it,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said.

2026-10-18 · assertive framing · Rays capitalize on Guardians errors, win 7-3 to tie ALCS at 2-2

🔮 Major League Baseball was hoping there would be a three-hour window of dry weather to get the game in, but the showers never let up.

2026-10-17 · assertive framing · ALCS Game 4 postponed by rain; Rays and Guardians to resume series Saturday

🔮 Huntley is expected to make his second straight start because Lamar Jackson is still recovering from an ankle injury.

2026-10-16 · assertive framing · Browns coach Todd Monken faces his old team as Ravens visit Cleveland, likely with Huntley at QB

🔮 And until we do that, we will struggle,” coach Todd Monken said.

2026-10-13 · assertive framing · The Browns' offense looks exposed after fourth-quarter magic runs out vs. Jets

🔮 So I’m happy our guys will be able to recover and get their legs back under us and start getting ready for some colder weather, which we’re very familiar with and as the season gets going.

2026-10-13 · assertive framing · Bengals embrace an early bye after a win in Miami

Also by Joe Reedy

Cavaliers survive a late Nets rally to win home opener 125-121

2026-10-25 · Toronto Star

Ohio State QB Julian Sayin out indefinitely after injuring throwing arm

2026-10-21 · Toronto Star

Monken says Browns' offense could be 'smoother,' but his 4-2 team has come through late in games

2026-10-20 · Toronto Star

Guardians need 2 road wins to overcome deficit against Rays, just like they did against White Sox

2026-10-19 · Toronto Star

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 45 articles by Joe Reedy →

Topics

Fox Fox Sports Milwaukee Univision the World Series

Subjects

Fox ORG · 3× Fox Sports ORG · 3× Milwaukee ORG · 3× Univision ORG · 2× Fox Deportes ORG · 1× Mike Mulvihill PERSON · 1× Milwaukee Brewers ORG · 1× Tampa Bay Rays ORG · 1× Toronto Blue Jays ORG · 1× the Los Angeles Dodgers ORG · 1×

Narrative

And the fact that they were able to take down the two-time defending champs (the Dodgers) and do it in really convincing fashion, I think that helps build some interest for the World Series,” Mulvihill said.

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-28

🔮 I think very few people, including me, would’ve guessed that we’d be down 6% through two games.

2026-10-28 · Toronto Star

Ratings for small-market Brewers-Rays World Series down only 6% through 2 games · assertive framing

Claims (15 extracted, 2 hedged)

For those fearing record-low ratings for the World Series, the matchup between the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays is exceeding expectations. asserted

matchup → fear → expectations

The audiences for the first two games on Fox Sports were down only 6% compared to Games 1 and 2 from last year’s Fall Classic between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays. asserted

audiences → compare → Dodgers

“I think they’ve probably surpassed everybody’s expectations. asserted

they → think → expectations

I think very few people, including me, would’ve guessed that we’d be down 6% through two games. asserted

we → think → games

We’re really satisfied,” said Mike Mulvihill, Fox Sports president for insight and analytics asserted

Mulvihill → ’re → insight

Milwaukee’s 3-2 win in Game 1 last Friday averaged 12.26 million viewers on Fox, Fox Deportes, Fox One streaming, the Fox Sports app and Univision. asserted

win → average → Fox

The Brewers’ 5-4 victory in Game 2, which did not include Univision coverage, averaged 10.85 million. asserted

which → include → million

Both games were the most-watched broadcast of the night. asserted

games → watch → night

With two small-market teams vying for the championship, there were many predictions the early ratings could rival the 2023 World Series between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks, which was the least-watched on record with a 9.11 million average. uncertain

which → vie → average

Game 2 of that series set the record low at 8.15 million. asserted

Game → set → million

The difference this year, though, is that Milwaukee has a steady base of fans in the Midwest and has been a consistent contender the last couple of seasons. asserted

Milwaukee → have → seasons

“I do think there’s something helpful about having a traditional team from the Midwest in the series. asserted

I → think → series

Mulvihill → take → Series

Fox could be holding its breath for the ratings from Monday’s Game 3. uncertain

Fox → hold → 3

Not only was it a 10-1 blowout win for Milwaukee, it faced stiff competition with the Dallas Cowboys playing the Philadelphia Eagles on “Monday Night Football.” ___ asserted

Cowboys → face → Football