Even with a brief power outage, an overlong game, and competition from the opening night of the NBA’s regular season, the Kansas City Royals and Fox Sports were big winners Tuesday night.
The Royals won a well-played, competitive, and thoroughly entertaining first game of the 2015 World Series 5-4 in 14 innings. TV ratings for Fox Sports’ telecast of the game were the highest for a World Series opener since 2009. And this against the opening last night of the regular NBA season.
The game was a thriller from the outset when Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar hit a stand-up, inside-the-park home run off Mets pitcher Matt Harvey’s first pitch. Escobar’s romp was aided when Mets outfielders Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Conforto perfectly executed the I got it/you take it play in left.
Tonight’s festivities at KC’s Kauffman Stadium will be called Bad Hair Night, as KC’s Johnny Cueto will go up against the Mets’ Jacob deGrom. (Baseball fans require no explanation.)
We’ll see if the good ratings hold up tonight in the face of further NBA games and the Republican Presidential debate from Boulder. With the first indications of Trump-fatigue setting in, I like baseball’s chances. I know I’ll be watching Cueto try to outduel Prince Valiant tonight, and will switch to the Spurs game on ESPN between innings and during pitching changes. The politicians we can always catch on the endless replays TV news shows will provide for days.
