World Series Game 7 Early Ratings Are Best in MLB Since 2001

Cubs win! Cubs win! And Fox ain’t no loser itself.

Game 7 of the 2016 World Series put up a big 25.2 overnight TV rating for the Fox broadcast channel, the best for a Major League Baseball game since 2001. That very preliminary Nielsen number is 66 percent better than the last Fall Classic Game 7 in 2014.

Wednesday’s instant classic contest ran way past primetime’s 11 p.m. ET cutoff, finally ending at 12:47 a.m. ET. The Chicago Cubs needed 10 innings and a 17-minute rain delay to finally defeat the scrappy Cleveland Indians, 8-7.

The 2001 game also had a thrilling finish — a heartbreaking one for New York Yankees fans. Arizona Diamondbacks player Luis Gonzalez won the whole thing with a bloop single into center field. That was the second run given up in the ninth inning by formerly invincible closer Mariano Rivera.

The 15-years-ago clincher finished 3-2, as did the 2014 version, which saw the San Francisco Giants knock off the Kansas City Royals. Madison Bumgarner was the big hero that evening.

Final viewership numbers for 2016’s Game 7 — and the entire World Series — will be available later today. Expect huge figures.