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The Los Angeles Dodgers' thrilling second consecutive World Series win delivered unmissable drama on Saturday night, and millions of viewers made sure to tune in.
The Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays had fans on the edge of their seats as the reigning champions battled back from a 3-0 deficit to be crowned the first repeat World Series winners in 25 years in an extra-innings Game 7 spectacular.
The Dodgers' comeback, which was sealed by catcher Will Smith in the top of the 11th, saw Fox rake in the viewers.
Based on preliminary viewership data, the network has estimated that an average of 25.98 million viewers tuned into the showdown across all Fox platforms.
That figure crowns the Dodgers-Blue Jays series finale as the most-watched World Series game since the Houston Astros' Game 7 victory over Los Angeles in 2017.
Even as the game extended into the late hours on the East Coast - thanks to Miguel Rojas's game-tying solo home run in the ninth - baseball fans remained glued to their screens. The game peaked with an audience of 31.5 million between 11:30pm ET and 11:45pm.
The LA Dodgers' World Series win over the Toronto Blue Jays averaged 25.98 million viewers
Dodgers catcher Will Smith hit the game-winning solo home run in the top of the 11th inning
The numbers are fast national data from Nielsen, along with data from Adobe Analytics. The final figure, along with audience data from Canadian broadcasters Sportsnet and TVA Sports, is expected to be announced later this week, according to Front Office Sports.
The Dodgers-Blue Jays Game 7 topped last year's Game 5, which saw LA trounce the New York Yankees for a 4-1 World Series win. Despite the Dodgers-Yankees matchup also being a major draw for baseball fans, this year's beat it by 40 percent in viewership.
Saturday's clash also beat out the last World Series Game 7 - the 2019 game between the Washington Nationals and the Astros - by 10 percent.
But the initial ratings from Saturday not only blow other World Series figures out of the water, but also the NBA's viewership numbers.
The contest’s linear audience beat Game 7 of the NBA Finals in June, which saw the Oklahoma City Thunder best the Indiana Pacers in the all-or-nothing clash on ABC. The 2025 World Series Game 7 reportedly beat the NBA finale's viewership by 53 percent.
The Thunder's 103-91 victory back in June was the NBA's most-watched Finals game in six years, averaging 16.53 million viewers and peaking at 19.28 million in the second half.
The NBA did, however, register record numbers itself during the first week of the season last month.
The league drew an average of 2.8 million viewers through the first week of the season on national games (NBC, Peacock, ESPN, and Amazon Prime Video), according to Front Office Sports. That marked the NBA's most-watched opening week in eight years.
The opening-night doubleheader on October 21, the NBA’s first games on NBC since 2002, drew 5.6 million viewers, which was up 90 percent on last year's opener on TNT.
