People May Be Hungrier For Baseball Than Expected After Yankees-Mets Exhibition Game Draws Monster Ratings

If you’ve followed Sideaction since its soft launch, you know how frustrating the MLB player-owner negotiations for this season were. There was a point where I was so tired of writing about their lack of progress that I simply threw my hands up and declared I hated both sides. There were even periods where it looked like an MLB season wouldn’t happen and many out there felt a sense of relief.

But all of that hand-wringing may be for naught. If the New York market is any indication, people are FROTHING for sports content and maybe even more ready for baseball than they may have been normally. Fox Sports EVP Michael Mulvihill tweeted the following staggering number from the Yankees-Mets exhibition from over the weekend:

Yankees-Mets earned a 4.4 rating and an 11 share last night in NY on YES and SNY combined.

For context, the four broadcast networks combined for a 3.9/10 in NY in primetime.

— Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) July 19, 2020

Now, I’m sure it’s not exactly all-star television competition that this Yankees-Mets exhibition was going against with whatever summer filler was on the broadcast networks. And Yankees-Mets will always stir up something for New York City, as I know from having spent the majority of my life out there. Subway Series situations always have a little bit of juice to them. But it’s still a completely meaningless game that outdrew all of the broadcast networks despite just being on cable. That’s a hell of a sign of the passion for a baseball season that’s going to have to drum up a lot of interest in one-third of the usual number of games.

The Yankees are expected to be a top squad but maybe even the Mets can ride this momentum to some sort of greatness this season?

Good point, Mr. Met. Let’s not expect too much.

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