The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2025 World Series, but Fox also hit a home run.
Game 7 of the annual Major League Baseball game, in which the Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 in overtime, averaged nearly 26 million viewers across Fox, Fox Deportes and Fox-owned streaming services, according to preliminary data from Nielsen. The full picture of viewership for the series finale will become clearer on Tuesday when more data is compiled.
The telecast was the most-watched Game 7 of the World Series since 2017, when nearly 28.3 million viewers watched the final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros. Houston won the game and the tournament. Viewership for Saturday’s FOX telecast was up 10% from the most recent Game 7 in 2019, when nearly 23.3 million viewers watched the Washington Nationals defeat the Astros.
Viewership for Saturday’s Game 7 on Fox peaked at about 31.5 million viewers between 11:30 p.m. and 11:45 p.m. ET, according to Nielsen.
This number represents a grand slam of sorts for MLB. The league is in the midst of offering a package of games previously earmarked for ESPN to a new partner. NBC Sports will take over most of ESPN’s Sunday games, according to two people familiar with the negotiations, while Netflix is in talks for the rights to the 2026 season opener and the annual Home Run Derby. Meanwhile, ESPN is vying for a new set of rights that will allow it to stream out-of-market games and an in-market package for five teams.
ESPN prematurely terminated its current rights deal with MLB, citing other deals the league has with digital companies that executives from sports giant Disney say undermined the value of the $550 million deal.
In fact, ratings for Saturday’s Game 7 telecast were 53% better than the most recent NBA Finals Game 7, which aired on ABC and averaged about 16.6 million viewers.
