Weekend Ratings Breakdown: MLB on Fox hits season high

This is Weekend Ratings Breakdown, which takes a look at all the ratings from big sporting events over the past weekend. Numbers are from Sports Business Daily, while some of the numbers come from press releases via NBC and ESPN.

9 a.m. ET - French Open Women’s Final (NBC): 1.8
3 p.m. ET - PGA: FedEx St. Jude Classic, Round Three (CBS): 1.3
3:30 p.m. ET - WNBA: Phoenix vs. Indiana (ABC): 0.6
4 p.m. ET - World of Adventure Sports (NBC): 0.4
5 p.m. ET - Belmont Stakes Pre-Race (NBC): 2.5
6:15 p.m. ET - Belmont Stakes (NBC): 4.6
7 p.m. ET - MLB: Regional action (LA Angels vs. Boston, St. Louis vs. Cincinnati, San Diego vs. Colorado, Houston vs. Kansas City, Philadelphia vs. Milwaukee) (Fox): 3.2
8 p.m. ET - Stanley Cup Playoffs: Los Angeles vs. Chicago, Game 5 (NBC): 2.9
8:30 p.m. ET - IndyCar: Firestone 500 (ABC): 1.1

Analysis:As I often do when there’s a lot of events, let’s go sport-by-sport:

Baseball: MLB on Fox hit a season high in the ratings for a second consecutive week, after a sluggish start to the season. This was a bit of a surprise to me, considering that aside from Cardinals vs. Reds, the games weren’t all that great, and only one team from the top three TV markets (the Angels) was playing. Fox was up 23 percent from last year’s coverage, which featured Mets vs. Yankees (2.6). The previous season high was last week’s 2.5 rating for Red Sox vs. Yankees.

Hockey: The double overtime thriller between the Kings and Blackhawks, which went well past midnight on the east coast, drew the highest overnight ratings for a conference final game since NBC reacquired NHL rights in 2006.

Everything Else: Serena Williams’ presence in the French Open final barely boosted ratings, as the 1.8 was up from a 1.7 in 2012 and 2011. The Belmont drew the lowest rating ever for a Triple Crown race on NBC. The WNBA struggled without Brittney Griner playing for Phoenix.

9 a.m. ET - French Open Men’s Final (NBC): 1.7
2 p.m. ET - F1: Canadian Grand Prix (NBC): 0.9
2 p.m. ET - LucasOil Off Road Series (CBS): 0.5
3 p.m. ET - PGA Tour: FedEx St. Jude Classic, Final Round (CBS): 2.1
4:30 p.m. ET - F1 36 (NBC): 0.4
5 p.m. ET - 1971 U.S. Open: Lee Trevino, An American Champion (NBC): 0.5
8 p.m. ET - NBA Finals: San Antonio vs. Miami, Game 2 (ABC): 10.2

Analysis: Game 2 of the NBA Finals drew the lowest overnight for the league’s championship series since 2009, when Game 5 of Magic/Lakers drew a 9.4, but numerous games have drawn around a 10.4 since then, so that’s not all a big deal. The problem for the Finals may be that San Antonio is not as into it as they’ve been in past Spurs Finals. Ratings are down 24 percent in the market from the 2007 Cleveland series, and 25 percent from that 2005 Pistons series, which both drew much lower ratings nationally. I guess San Antonians preferred the Spurs a bit duller.