ESPN, San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates: National League Wild Card Game Earns Highest Nielsen Ratings Ever for Network

The National League Wild Card game, which pitted the San Francisco Giants against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park in the Steel City, earned record-high viewership ratings for ESPN on Wednesday night. It was the network's first Major League Baseball playoff game in eight years.

ESPN brought in nearly 5.6 million viewers for the 8-0 romp of the Giants over the Pirates, which makes it the most-watched and highest-rated MLB Wild Card Game to ever be broadcast on any network. According to Nielsen, that 5,591,000 number was good enough for a 3.6 rating. Those numbers equated to a 22 percent rise in viewership and a 20 percent rise in ratings as compared to last year's NL Wild Card contest against the Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds.

SF vs Pitt: Most-viewed & highest-rated @MLB Wild Card Game. 5.5 million viewers, 3.6 rating https://t.co/uK5GpXeA3M pic.twitter.com/gt4LMSByjN

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) October 2, 2014

Additionally, both the Pittsburgh and San Francisco markets drew in record numbers of viewers, with the Bay Area netting a 13.3 rating and Pittsburgh bringing in a whopping 22.6 rating.

22.6 local rating in Pittsburgh for NL #WildCard Game, 13.3 in San Francisco. Both all-time highs for MLB games on ESPN in those markets. — MLB Public Relations (@MLB_PR) October 2, 2014

And even with all of those people watching from home, the Pirates still managed to pack the ballpark with 40,629 fans, which according to the ESPN box score, is the equivalent of 105.9% of the stadium's capacity.

Despite its blowout outcome, the NL game fared seven percent better in the ratings than Tuesday night's American League Wild Card nail-biter (broadcast on TBS), which saw the Kansas City Royals edge the Oakland A's, 9-8, with a walk-off single by Salvador Perez in the 12th inning. Though, it may be because of Tuesday night's excitement that so many viewers tuned in to ESPN on Wednesday.

And finally, WatchESPN, which is available online and via the WatchESPN app, drew in an additional 9.9 million total minutes of viewership. Each minute of play averaged 48,589 viewers.