Game 7 of World Series gets big rating

An average of 25.4 million Americans watched Game 7 of the World Series Friday night, the largest audience for a baseball game since the Red Sox secured their first title in 86 years in 2004.

The 14.7 percent of homes that tuned in improved the 2011 Series' overall rating to 10.0, up 19 percent from last year's record-low-tying 8.4.

The key was the length of the Series, the first in nine years to last seven games. After Game 5, the Rangers and Cardinals were averaging only an 8.3.

As Friday's game ended, 89 percent of homes in the St. Louis area that had their TVs on were watching baseball.

The last time the Series went to a seventh game, in 2002, an average of about 31 million people watched.