Root Sports telecasts of the 2015 Pirates season received an 8.4 average household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research, making it the highest-rated season in the network’s history.
The 8.4 average rating represented a 75 percent increase from the Pirates’ 10-year ratings average and ranked as the third-highest household ratings out of all U.S.-based teams in 2015.
The Pirates won 98 games and had the second-best record in baseball, but finished second in the NL Central behind the St. Louis Cardinals. For the third year in a row, the Pirates appeared in the NL wild-card game, and for the second year in a row, they were shut out, this time by Jake Arrieta and the Chicago Cubs.