Sports briefs
SF falls to Conneaut
The South Fayette girls volleyball team fell to Conneaut 3-1 in the PIAA playoffs Tuesday night. No further information was made available to the Observer-Reporter.
Series ratings down
The Houston Astros’ six-game victory over the Philadelphia Phillies finished as the second least-watched World Series on television.
The six games averaged 11,784,000 on Fox, down 1.3% from the 11,940,000 for the Atlanta Braves’ six-game win over the Astros last year and ahead of only the 9,946,000 for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ six-game victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in 2020.
Houston’s 3-1 win in Game 6 on Saturday night was seen by 12,549,000 viewers on Fox, down 11% from 14,140,000 Atlanta’s 7-0 victory over the Astros in last year’s finale, played on a Tuesday night. Including Fox Deportes and streaming, this year’s Game 6 was viewed by 12,871,000.
Game 6 was played opposite several college football games, including Alabama-LSU on ESPN, Clemson-Notre Dame on NBC and Florida State-Miami on ABC.
The Series finished with a 6.1 Nielsen rating and 17 share. The rating was the second-lowest behind the 5.2 for 2020, which had a 12 share. This year’s share marked a 1% increase from last year.
Including Fox Deportes and streaming, this year’s Series averaged 12,023,000 viewers.
Viewers peaked at 51,560,000 for Game 7 of the 1975 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds.
Totals declined with the rise of cable television and then of streaming services, giving viewers more choices.
The Series had a 25.0 rating and a 52 share in Philadelphia and a 24.0/55 in Houston.
Rizzo a free agent
First baseman Anthony Rizzo became a free agent again when he declined his $16 million option with the New York Yankees for 2023.
Pitcher Chris Bassitt declined his $19 million option with the New York Mets and followed rotation mates Jacob deGrom and Taijuan Walker into free agency.
They were among 11 players who became free agents Tuesday, raising the total to 151. About 33 more players are potentially eligible to go free by Thursday, joining a free agent class headed by Aaron Judge, Trea Turner, Dansby Swanson, deGrom, Carlos Correa and Xander Bogaerts.
Acquired from the Chicago Cubs at the 2021 trade deadline, Rizzo went free after the 2021 season and stayed with the Yankees for a deal that paid $16 million this year.
He hit 32 home runs for the fourth time in his career – he’s never hit more – and had 75 RBIs in 130 games despite a .224 batting average. The 33-year-old was sidelined between Aug. 31 and Sept. 18 by back pain and headaches from an epidural injection to treat his back.
Rizzo’s home runs were 40% of the Yankees’ 77 by left-handed batters and his RBIs were 37% of the 202 by New York’s lefties.