The failure of the more popular teams such as the New York Yankees, the Arizona Diamondbakcs and the Atlanta Braves to qualify for the season-ending MLB play-offs had left many concerned that the teams left in the competition would not prove a sufficient enough draw.
However, the success of the Anaheim Angels in reaching their first ever World Series final by defeating the Minnesota Twins 4-1 coupled with the closeness of the series between the San Francisco Giants and the St.Louis Cardinals (the Giants currently lead 3-1 in the best of seven series) has meant that the play-offs have proved as popular as ever in terms of television audiences.
The first three games of the American League Championship (Angels v Twins) drew an average Nielsen Media rating of 7.7, up 14 percent from the 2001 play-off series. Meanwhile, the Giants' series against the Cardinals was also up 23 percent on the previous year attracting an average audience of some 9.1 million viewers over the first ten days of the series.
Comments Vince Wladika, MLB spokesman: "Everyone is very relieved and very encouraged around here. The numbers are up overall among all male demographics and even some women's demos.
"We still have a lot of baseball left with the culmination of the Giants/Cardinals series and the World Series. We obviously want to see good, competitive series the rest of the way but we're definitely enthused about this start.
The MLB play-offs are screened across Fox, Fox Sports Net and ABC Family and the high ratings will come as a welcome relief for the franchise following a year when there was a 6 percent drop in overall MLB attendances.
Fears that the lack of any established team would detract from the Major League Baseball play-offs have proved unfounded.
