World Series 4th-least-watched, averaging 14.1M viewers

Boston's five-game World Series victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers averaged 14,125,000 viewers on Fox, down 25 percent from last year and the fourth-lowest ever.

The Series featuring a pair of large-market teams averaged an 8.3 rating and 17 share, Nielsen said Tuesday. That was down from a 10.7 rating, 20 share and 18,926,000 average viewers for the Houston Astros' seven-game win over the Dodgers last year and 40 percent from 23,386,000 average viewers for the Cubs' seven-game win over Cleveland two years ago — Chicago's first title since 1908.

The only Series with fewer average viewers were Philadelphia's five-game win over Tampa Bay in 2008 (13,062,000), San Francisco's four-game sweep of Detroit in 2012 (12.7 million) and the Giants' seven-game win over Kansas City in 2014 (13,825,000). The rating was the third-lowest, ahead of only a 7.6 in 2012 and an 8.2 in 2014.

Boston's 5-1 win in Game 5 on Sunday was the most-watched of the Series, averaging 17,634,000 viewers. The opener averaged 18,314,000, followed by 13,507,000 in Game 2, 13,250,000 in Game 3 and 13,563,000 in Game 4.

Ratings represent the percentage of U.S. television households tuned into a program and shares represent the percentage watching a broadcast among homes with TVs in use at the time.

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