If you were to come up to me, perhaps at a local watering hole, and say: “Ryan, with both teams pretty much out of contention for several weeks at the end of the season, do you think more or less fans watched the Cubs and Sox this season?”

I would have to, using reason and logic, answer: “Less Cubs fan watched games on television this year. Same goes for the Sox.”

BUT GET THIS. I would only be half right. Because as Sports Business Journal reports, the Cubs did indeed see a pretty steep drop in viewers on Comcast SportsNet this season: they had a 4.16 rating, which is good for a 16.3 percent drop in viewership. The games were seen in an average of 145,000 households, which is a 15.7 percent drop. At least they weren’t the A’s, who saw a 52.6 percent drop in their rating on CSN California. Yeesh.

But here’s where it gets weird: the Sox actually saw an uptick in ratings this season. Their 2.28 rating was an increase of 8.1 percent, and the 80,000 average households was a 9.6 percent increase over last season.

I’m not really sure what this all means. On the one hand, I feel like Cubs fans were incredibly frustrated with how the season ended up, and pretty much boycotted the last part of the season, refusing to watch. The stadium was also under capacity the last two-three weeks of the season, which rarely happens these days.

But the Sox seeing more viewers? I have no idea why this is. Maybe Cubs fans jumped shipped?

HT: Foul Balls