Game 1 of the Yankees-Dodgers World Series draws its largest viewership since 2017

The World Series got off to a good start for Fox on Friday, as the game, which ended in a dramatic 6-3 Los Angeles Dodgers victory over the New York Yankees, delivered the largest Game 1 audience for the fall classic since 2017.

Fox Sports reported that an average of 15.2 million viewers tuned in to see the Dodgers beat the Yankees at home in the 10th inning. Dodgers slugger Freddie Freeman hit a beautiful walk-off home run with the bases loaded. According to Fox, viewership peaked at 17.8 million in the final half hour of the game at 11:30 p.m. ET.

The game was broadcast on Fox Sports' linear and digital platforms, as well as cable channel Fox Deportes and Spanish-language giant Univision, which partnered with Fox for the World Series.

The rarity of a Yankees-Dodgers World Series has increased interest in this year's MLB championship round. Viewership increased 62% compared to the first game of 2023 between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers. This game did not break the 10 million viewer mark (9.3 million viewers).

In 2017, the opener of the Houston Astros-Dodgers series, which would become a scandalous black eye for the Astros after a sign-stealing and cheating scandal, drew 15.3 million viewers, according to Fox.

In the battle of West Coast-East Coast fandom, Los Angeles won by a wide margin on Friday. The game achieved an average household rating of 19.1 and a market share of 58 in the LA market. In New York, the country's largest TV market, the Fall Classic earned a 13.2/37 rating by the same measures – meaning a far larger share of L.A. TV viewers watched the game live than Yankees fans in New York.

Fox noted that Friday's game was the highest-rated telecast on a Friday night since its broadcast of Game 3 of the 2017 Astros-Dodgers World Series.

(Pictured: Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers after the game-winning home run)