MLB All-Star Game wins night but draws record low ratings

ARTICLE COURTESY OF THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO. - Major League Baseball’s Midsummer Classic remains the most-watched all-star game in the major professional sports, even though it drew record lows in viewership for the fifth time since 2015.

Tuesday night’s game from Los Angeles — which the American League won 3-2 — averaged 7.51 million viewers on Fox, according to Nielsen, a decline of 9.7% from last year’s contest in Colorado. The audience peaked at 8.24 million between 9:15 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. EDT.

The game was the most-watched program on television Tuesday night and outdrew the three other major all-star games that were played in February. The NFL’s Pro Bowl averaged 6.69 million on ABC, followed by the all-star games for the NBA (6.28 million on TNT/TBS) and NHL (1.15 million on ABC).

The baseball game averaged 127,000 on Fox Deportes, giving it the second-highest audience for the event in Spanish-language television history. The game also averaged 107,455 on Fox Sports’ streaming platforms.

The Home Run Derby on Monday night on ESPN averaged 6.88 million, a 3.5% decrease from last year.

- The Philadelphia Union won a nail biter over the New England Revolution 2-1 Saturday night in Chester for their third straight win. This win keeps the Union in first place in the Eastern Conference and snapped the Revolution’s five game unbeaten streak against the Union dating back to the 2020 playoffs.

This game looked at first to be a return to the Union’s old habits of struggling to score. The teams went into halftime scoreless, but the Union had three good shots on goal and 12 shots overall despite New England maintaining possession for 61% of the first half. Jakob Glesnes had the most exciting chance of the first half firing a laser of a shot from more than 35 yards out requiring an acrobatic save in the left corner of the net by Revolution goalie Dorde Petrovic to keep the Union off the board.

The second half started slow but heated up quickly with Gustavo Bou scoring the first goal for New England in the 61st minute, hooking a shot just inside the right post from the center of the box. Union coach Jim Curtin countered by bringing in Mikael Uhre and Alejandro Bedoya for a spark off the bench. Both are normally starters but needed the rest for the Union’s sixth game in three weeks. The move paid off with Uhre scoring on a header from a Kai Wagner corner kick in the 75th minute sending the Subaru Park crowd of 18,257 into a frenzy. A few minutes later Henry Kessler of the Revolution committed a foul in the goal box setting up a penalty kick for Daniel Gazdag in the 79th minute. Gazdag sent a right footed shot past Petrovic into the top left corner of the net to put the Union ahead and flip a 1-0 deficit to a 2-1 lead in less than five minutes.

This was the final Union game for Scottish center back Stuart Findlay as he will be transferred next week to Oxford United in EFL League One back in England. Findlay struggled to get playing time in his season and a half with the Union remaining firmly stuck behind Glesnes and Jack Elliott on the depth chart at the same position. The team delayed the transfer for a few days so Findlay could have one final home game for a proper send-off from the team and the supporters. After the game, Findlay was so appreciative he seemed to already be planning a return to Philly:

“You don’t enjoy a place this much and then wash your hands of it. So, even if not in a professional sense, I’ll definitely be back on vacation next year to see all my friends, but you never know what the future holds...I’m going to leave with a very heavy heart because this place has become a very special place for me. This club, the support, and the players have been absolutely fantastic, and I leave with lots of good memories.”

Other news and notes:

• The Union extended their unbeaten at home to 16 straight regular season matches with a record of 11-0-5.

• The Union have only one loss (to New England in September 2021) in their previous 26 regular season home matches for a total record of 17-1-8.

• Kai Wagner’s assist on Uhre’s goal moved him into third place in assists all time in franchise history.

• Alejandro Bedoya passed Union legend and current broadcaster Sebastian Le Toux for third most appearances in franchise history with 176.

• The Union’s next game is on the road on Saturday July 23rd against Orlando City SC. The game will be shown locally on PHL17 at 7:30 and streaming on ESPN+.