via FOX press release:

2009 ALCS SCORES BIG FOR FOX

Two Angels/Yankees Classics Dominate All Prime Time Competition

Thrilling 13-Inning Game 2 is Most-Watched Sat. Night LCS on Any Network Since 2004

After two games, the 2009 American League Championship Series featuring the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the New York Yankees has hit an early home run for FOX.

Last night’s Game 2 earned a 5.8/11 (9.4 million viewers), according to fast-national ratings issued by Nielsen Media Research.  Those figures represent a significant +53% increase from last year’s ALCS Game 2 (3.8/8 for Red Sox-Rays in 11 innings on TBS).  The thrilling 13-inning battle was the most-watched Saturday night LCS game on any network since 2004 (Yankees vs. Red Sox 12.5 million on FOX) with the average audience up +54% vs. 2008’s 6.1 million viewers for Red Sox/Rays on TBS. Remarkably, last night’s epic marathon was the third straight Saturday night ALCS Game 2 to go to extra innings and run past 1:00 AM ET.

Game 1 of the 2009 American League Championship Series on Friday night earned a 5.2/10 (8.4 million viewers).  Those figures represent a +27% increase over last year’s ALCS Game 1 (4.1/8 for Red Sox-Rays on TBS).

Through two games, the 2009 ALCS on FOX is averaging a 5.6/11 (9.0 million viewers), +44% over last year’s ALCS on TBS (3.9/8, 6.3 million viewers) and a 37% increase over the 2008 NLCS on FOX between the Phillies and Dodgers (4.1/8, 6.2 million viewers).  The 2009 ALCS ranks as the highest-rated LCS on either FOX or TBS since both networks began covering MLB’s postseason together back in 2007.

Each of FOX’s first two ALCS games have delivered the network’s best rating on their respective nights of the week in over ten months.  FOX also easily won the Adults 18-49 primetime battle for the second time in as many games.  Last night’s game averaged a 5.3/10 (8.7 million viewers) from 8:00 – 11:00 PM, FOX’s best Saturday-night performance since the Arizona Cardinals/Carolina Panthers NFC Playoff game on January 10, 2009 (13.6/23 – 23.4 million viewers).

Viewing of last night’s five-hour game peaked from 11:30 PM – 12:00 AM ET and over 90% of that peak audience stayed through the end of the game. The game peaked at a 6.8/14 and 11.1 million viewers at 11:30 PM ET.

New York topped all local markets with an 18.6/33 for Game 2 followed by Hartford (11.5/20) and then Los Angeles (10.8/23).  For Game 1 on Friday night, New York posted a 16.7/27, followed by Los Angeles (9.1/19), Hartford (9.1/15) and Boston (7.1/13).