The 2023 MLB All-Star Game was eventful, headlined by a transcendent talent and ended on a sweet note. It’s ratings were not so sweet.
This season’s Midsummer Classic averaged a record-low 3.9 rating and 7.01 million viewers, down seven percent from last year’s record lows of 4.21 and 7.51 million, according to Sports Media Watch. The MLB All-Star Game has now set a record low in ratings in five of the past seven games (2016, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023).
This year’s edition of the game saw the National League snap a nine-game losing streak with a 3-2 win at the Seattle Mariner‘s T-Mobile Park. The heroics came in the eighth inning when Colorado Rockies catcher Elias Díaz hit a two-run homer to take a 3-2 lead.
Díaz, playing in his first career All-Star Game at 32 years old, was named MVP of the game.
The preceding days in Seattle also saw a much-hyped MLB Draft, with the Pittsburgh Pirates taking LSU phenom Paul Skenes with the first pick, and Toronto Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. following in his dad’s footsteps with a Home Run Derby win.
It was a fun week in a season that saw an early viewership win in the first year with the pitch clock’s faster game time, but that apparently didn’t translate to national viewers. It should be noted MLB isn’t unique when it comes to decreased All-Star ratings.
Can MLB do anything about the All-Star Game?
The MLB All-Star game is unique among All-Star games in that it is the only that, for lack of a better term, actually works.
The NFL’s Pro Bowl suffered for decades because of the hesitance of all involved to play a game that is dangerous any time players walk onto the field, while the NBA and NHL All-Star games lacked any incentive to try on defense. All three leagues have tinkered with the formula — or in the NFL’s case, straight-up abandoned holding a game — but with little success if you judge the outcome by ratings.
MLB never had those problems, because a) throwing one extra inning isn’t a huge deal for pitchers and will often coincide with their throw day (American League starter Gerrit Cole described his outing Tuesday as “A lot of adrenaline for a bullpen day”) and b) no hitter wants to strike out and no pitcher wants to give up a homer on a national stage.
The MLB All-Star Game has always been the best All-Star game as far as the actual competition, but that’s a double-edged sword now if the league deems the ratings unacceptable. It can tinker, but no mechanic can fix a car when the real problem is a jagged road.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred can certainly try, though any major change risks cheapening a game that has more legitimacy than any of its peers.
