Fox struck out with its airing of Alex Rodriguez's farewell game.
Attempting to counter-program against NBC and the Rio Olympics in prime time Friday, Fox's broadcast of Rays-Yankees drew a miniscule 0.7 final rating and 1 million viewers, according to Sports Media Watch, which added that those numbers are "almost certainly the lowest rated and least-watched MLB telecast ever on an over-the-air network."
The caveat: There is no comprehensive, publicly available record of MLB ratings on broadcast TV.
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Still, according to the report, "it appears highly unlikely that any game in the TV ratings era has posted lower numbers on one of the 'Big Four' networks."
For context, Sports Media Watch noted that in the same window a week earlier, Fox drew more viewers to reruns of "Masterchef," which earned a 0.8 and 1.2 million viewers for its first hour and 0.9 and 1.4 million for the reality show's second hour.
Before Friday's Rays-Yankees game, the lowest-rated MLB game on record was Fox's broadcast of Derek Jeter's second-to-last game in September 2014, a Yankees-Red Sox matchup that drew a 0.8 rating and 1.1 million viewers, so at least A-Rod's and the Captain's farewells were comparable in one sense.
