After facing elimination in two consecutive playoff series, some were beginning to call the San Francisco Giants a team of destiny. After the Giants defeated the Detroit Tigers in game one of the World Series, is seems much of the country agreed. The Giants won game two on Thursday, but the game, which aired on Fox, earned a record low 7.8 fast national rating for the second game of a World Series and 12 share.
The Associated Press reports that the ratings were up three percent over game one. The previous low for for the second game of the World Series was an 8.1 for the 2008 series involving the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays.
While more than 12 million viewers turned in to watch the second game of the World Series on Thursday, baseball’s championship event was competing with the NFL’s Thursday Night Football, which drew away at least five million fans. The Giants and and Tigers face off again Saturday night.
USA Today reports that the ratings for game two were down 13 percent from last season’s World Series. They noted that prime time games tend to build their ratings as the night goes on, but the Giants taking a quick lead led viewers to change the channel. Later in the game, the rating dropped to just 7.5.
While the ratings weren’t good, MLB said the game drew 813,000 social media comments, making it the second-most discussed MLB game on social media. Game six of the 2006 World Series was the most discussed.
The Giants lead the series two games to none.