Did all it take was for Cubs fans to get whiff of the future in Jorge Soler, Javier Baez and Kyle Hendricks to get them to watch their games again?
With the three young players leading the way, the Cubs’ 6-3 victory over Milwaukee did a 3.20 rating on Comcast SportsNet Wednesday. That means an estimated 115,000 homes tuned into an otherwise meaningless September game for the Cubs.
The rating was the second highest of the year on CSN for a Cubs game, trailing only the Cubs-White Sox game on May 5, which did a 3.37. The 3.20 rating also was more than double the 1.5 season average for the Cubs on CSN.
The game peaked at a 4.1 rating (143,000). Overall, thanks to the Cubs, CSN was the third highest-rated network in the Chicago market during primetime (7-10 p.m.).
The rating bodes well for the Cubs, who still are in negotiations for the WGN-9 component of their TV deal. It shows that their ratings will soar if they become competitive again.
The question isn’t if they can impact TV ratings but if they can actually impact what happens on the field.
The history of MLB is littered with “can’t miss” prospects who somehow actually did (miss…)
And then of course you’ve got the track record of this laughing stock franchise for the past 108 years….not a good combination is it?
Time will tell I guess…Theo is banking his job on it that’s for sure because if this team is still losing 90+ games a year, two seasons from now, their Cub fans will be ready to throw him off a rooftop.
Mike I hear ya- the Cubs themselves have their own history of can’t miss prospects who did most certainly miss- Corey Patterson, Bobby Hill off the top of my head. But I feel really good about Soler and Brant. They’re the real deal and will be a whole lot of fun to watch.