For the same reason that many fans loved the Royals' thrilling 5-4, 14-inning win in Game 1 of the World Series Monday night, others were turned away.
It's America, everybody is going to have different tastes. A passion for baseball is sort of like a passion for coffee, you are either going to love it or hate it.
On a night where MLB's opening game of its championship series went head-to-head against the NBA regular season's first games, baseball lost among a lot of nonbaseball purists.
Not on the numbers — I'd be shocked if the MLB lost the viewership battle when those numbers are released — but rather for the casual viewer.