I was personally glad that MLB and FOX decided to play Game Three late Saturday night/early Sunday Morning. There's nothing better than going out for awhile and then coming back and watching the rest of a game late night. Well apparently not everyone stays up as late as I do, because FOX's ratings for Game Three were abysmal. So bad in fact, that it's the lowest rated World Series game ever with a 6.1. It was obviously a tough decision to air the game, but when pressed Bud Selig had this to say in support of the decision, "It was a terribly difficult situation. ... You know what, it was a great game and those that saw it enjoyed it."

You never want to completely postpone a Playoff game, but when your start time is 8:30pm, and the first pitch is moved to past 10pm, you might want to think about it. As far as Game Four last night, the numbers aren't nearly as bad. The overnight numbers say that it received a 10.7, which is down 25% from last year, but that game was a Series clincher for the Red Sox. If you're looking for more comparable numbers, the PSU-OSU game on ABC pulled a 7.2 and the Giants-Steelers game on FOX got a 15.6. You'd expect a World Series game to fall somewhere in between those and that's exactly where it wound up.

However, through the four games FOX is averaging an 8.5, which is a full one and a half points lower than the all-time low of 10.0 in 2006. All in all, the decision of airing Game Three pretty much assures this World Series of being the lowest set of Games, on average, ever. The potential of the Phillies clinching certainly helps, but to best that 10.0 from 2006, tonight's game would have to pull over a 16.0.

With Monday Night Football, Dancing With The Stars and a new episode of Heroes....that ain't happening. Unless Tampa Bay comes back and pushes it to seven, this will be your lowest rated World Series in history. Book it.

(Numbers via Sports Business Daily)