MLB World Series Viewership Dropped Nearly 25% from Last Year: Report

posted by u/Tasty-Ground-5496 · 2026-10-30 23:59 UTC

(Link/image post, original: https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/mlb-world-series-viewership-dropped-210952641.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAjcA2fe8qEgmgqG3iizLp8g7n5iwLgA5zNKL3cyFFVtBTdWRj7gOeG7UXim2vDzP2CfRnAW4XUSK624Y7OxywsIQCYJLvnBVXZQvdzOk26WT5yb6S9vz-hO0T3mMZx3UZe9IIQBFlgLK9SJwY_9edNjS_HRD-KhegO11wmVyCNN）

## Top comments

1. u/AutoModerator · 2026-10-30 23:59 UTC

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2. u/Slappy_McJones · 2026-10-31 10:06 UTC

More people would watch baseball if you didn’t have to get FOUR different subscriptions, and deal with black-outs and all that bullshit, just to see your team all year!

3. u/PancakeTrebuchet · 2026-10-31 10:40 UTC

They've made being a fan a chore.

4. u/Indubitalist · 2026-10-31 12:26 UTC

The really important part is they’re killing casual fandom. Nobody starts watching a sport by paying a subscription for it. They have to be able to access it on a whim, or by accident, or because it’s on at a friend’s house or something where there’s no barrier to entry. MLB is making it so the whole sport is paywalled.

I’m in Orlando, there’s no baseball team here, but I am considered the home market for the Rays and the Marlins, so guess what? I never get to watch either of their games. Local TV doesn’t broadcast them. Bally Sports owns the rights, and I don’t have cable or a streaming equivalent so I don’t have access to the upper tier sports package needed to get that. I have an MLB.tv subscription, but of course any games involving either Florida team are blacked out.

The first Rays or Marlins game I could watch this season was game 1 of the World Series; the entire regular season and all other postseason series were paywalled/blacked out. It was on Fox broadcast. That was the first my kids got to see either Florida team play this season. That has a lot to do with them being Giants fans. If I hadn’t gotten into baseball as a kid they wouldn’t even have those games to watch. But they’ve got like a dozen football games a week to pick from.

Kids aren’t becoming fans of MLB baseball, and it’s because they can’t watch the games. I coach youth baseball and basically none of those kids watch it, at any age level. They love playing it, though. MLB is sacrificing its future for more money in the present. Who will be the next generation of fans when they paywall everything for the young potential fans right now?

5. u/I_Like_Quiet · 2026-10-31 12:42 UTC

Think if you lived in iowa and got blacked out from the twins, royals, Cardinals, cubs, and white Sox. It's ridiculous.

6. u/Indubitalist · 2026-10-31 12:52 UTC

Yeah, it hurts to think about their situation. The blackout map gets absolutely ridiculous there. Have some mercy, MLB. FFS they don’t have five home teams.

7. u/SophonsPonytail · 2026-10-31 13:36 UTC

Memphis and the cardinals, reds, and even braves are blacked out for me :(

8. u/Wall_street_canary · 2026-10-31 13:16 UTC

NBA has been doing the same thing

9. u/TheTravelingLeftist · 2026-10-31 14:14 UTC

As a Rays fan living in Orlando, I’m also suffering. The only reason I can even watch my team is because of T-Mobile’s yearly subscription gift

10. u/runninroads · 2026-10-31 12:06 UTC

Also: expensive.

11. u/42ElectricSundaes · 2026-10-31 13:24 UTC

Every team needs their own early 2000s TBS

12. u/JimmyTheJimJimson · 2026-10-31 10:50 UTC

Wait until you hear what the NHL is doing to try and kill the sport 😞

13. u/Dry_Scar1556 · 2026-10-31 11:00 UTC

I get Lightning games on my antenna. They better not take that away from me.

14. u/Warm-Dust-3601 · 2026-10-31 11:38 UTC

🏴‍☠️

15. u/nats13 · 2026-10-31 12:21 UTC

Caved and got ESPN+ this year thinking I would get most Caps games. Think if gotten like half of them smh

16. u/Spayed_and_Neutered2 · 2026-10-31 10:45 UTC

As soon as my mlb subscription stops covering games I stop watching. I didn't watch any postseason, not by choice.

17. u/Ok_Regular8213 · 2026-10-31 12:34 UTC

Yeah man. People are broke. Everything’s insanely expensive. Sports used to be an escape from all that.

18. u/beefdx · 2026-10-31 10:43 UTC

Yohohohoooo… yo-ho-hoo-hoooooo….

19. u/Warm-Dust-3601 · 2026-10-31 11:39 UTC

🏴‍☠️

20. u/Sure_Temporary_4559 · 2026-10-31 13:38 UTC

NBA is the same way. I remember when they used to have the regional channels for Fox Sports and I could watch every Pacers game. Fast forward to today and you’re forced into a DA/ZN subscription.

I lucked out this year because Hulu added Marquee network to live tv so I could actually watch more than a couple Cubs games but I listen to games mostly on the MLB app. But same thing there, because Cubs used to be on UPN or WGN in my area before being put behind a paywall.