It seems news of the decline of Major League Baseball (MLB) has been greatly exaggerated. If the World Series ratings are any sign, then it’s the NBA that really needs to be worried right now.

The Los Angeles Dodgers‘ dramatic Game 7 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series drew a massive television audience, averaging 25.98 million viewers across all Fox platforms.

The game peaked at 31.5 million viewers between 11:30 p.m. and 11:45 p.m. ET, marking the most-watched World Series finale since 2017. Viewership topped last year’s Dodgers-Yankees Game 5 by 40 percent and surpassed the 2019 Astros–Nationals Game 7 by 10 percent.

It turns out the Dodgers’ domination of the sport isn’t bad for baseball. It’s a ratings juggernaut. As every WWE fan knows, all feuds need a good heel to draw money. The LA “evil empire” is making bank for the MLB.

World Series ratings compared to the NBA

Compared to the NBA’s most recent Game 7 of the Finals, the World Series clash outperformed it in ratings by 53 percent. The NBA Finals Game 7 drew in 16.53 million viewers.

The Series final game also beat the NBA’s top game in six years overall. Ultimately, the event underscored baseball’s enduring appeal, blowing the NBA out of the water in linear TV dominance.

Compelling baseball trounces a league that has become little more than a three-point shooting contest where nobody plays defense any day.

But it isn’t just that. It’s the quality of baseball being played. Both teams in the World Series drew ratings because numerous pivotal plays could have delivered victory to either squad at various moments. It was a consistent conveyor belt of great play. Nobody was going to back their way into or out of the championship.

We saw it in Game 3, an 18-inning classic. And we saw it again in Game 7 – from Andy Pages’ incredible game-saving catch, to Miguel Rojas’ game-tying home run, to Will Smith’s clutch move at home plate to prevent the Blue Jays from walking it off in the bottom of the 9th, and then coming back with the game-winning home run in the 11th.

People were glued to their screens—much more than they were for the NBA Finals Game 7.

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Why the NBA is in even more trouble

Several prominent basketball personalities have blamed the three-point shot for the poor ratings the NBA has been experiencing. Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal believes that fans are being driven away by too many teams that can’t shoot the three, yet still fire them up anyway.

“We’re looking at the same thing,” O’Neal said. “Everybody is running the same plays. And [the Warriors] messed it up. I don’t mind Golden State back in the day shooting threes, but every team isn’t a 3-point shooter.”

“So why [does] everybody have the same strategy? I think it makes the game boring.”

Legendary former Boston Globe sports columnist Bob Ryan thinks the implementation of the three-point shot in the NBA is the worst thing. Ever.

“For me, the three-point shot is the single worst thing to happen to basketball in my lifetime,” Ryan said during an appearance on The Ricky Cobb Show last year.

Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla admitted he doesn’t even bother to watch games, admitting he’d “rather watch something else.”

Things are fixin’ to get worse.

The ongoing 2025 NBA gambling scandal, involving high-profile arrests of figures like coach Chauncey Billups and player Terry Rozier for alleged game manipulation and mafia-linked poker schemes, has ignited widespread concerns about the league’s integrity. A league that already struggled for decades with conspiracy theories that their product was fixed.

While early-season viewership of the NBA has shown positive signs, analysts warn that prolonged fallout from eroded fan trust could precipitate a sharp drop in ratings. They’ve got a lot of work to do if they ever plan on eclipsing the World Series viewership again.