The Los Angeles Dodgers came back to defeat the Washington Nationals in the National League Division Series to set up an NL Championship Series with the Chicago Cubs, who dispatched the San Francisco Giants in the first round.
Although the Cubs closed out the NLCS in lopsided fashion, the series made for good theater, with each team winning on the road. Los Angeles won Games 2 and 3, putting some Cubs fans in a nervous state considering their years of postseason misfortune.
That was particularly true considering Chicago was shut out in those losses. However, their bats woke up and now the Cubs are playing in their first World Series since 1945.
According to the Associated Press, FOX reported the 2016 NLCS was the most-watched championship series in recent years:
The Chicago Cubs’ first pennant clincher since 1945 was seen by an average of 9.7 million viewers on Fox Sports 1, the highest total for a League Championship Series in six years.
Chicago’s 5-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 6 of the NLCS on Saturday night was the most-watched LCS game since San Francisco’s 3-2 victory over Philadelphia in Game 6 in 2010 (11.6 million), Fox said Sunday. Viewers increased to a peak of 12.2 million for the Cubs’ game-ending double play.
With two markets as big as Los Angeles and Chicago squaring off in an NLCS, coupled with the Cubs trying to break their curse, it’s hardly a surprise viewership eclipsed that of previous years. Each of the six games aired on FS1.
While the Cubs have not won a championship since 1908, the longest drought in all of sports, the Dodgers are currently in a drought of their own as they have not so much as appeared in a World Series since 1988.
The 28-year stretch is the sixth-longest in all of baseball behind the Baltimore Orioles (1983), Milwaukee Brewers (1982), Pittsburgh Pirates (1979), Seattle Mariners and Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals who have yet to reach the World Series in their existence.
The Dodgers also hold the record for most consecutive postseason appearances without making a World Series at four.
