Even though the Pirates collapsed after the All-Star break and finished with their worst record since 2010, they still wound up with one of Major League Baseball's few increases in television ratings in 2019, according to Maury Brown of Forbes.
AT&T SportsNet showed a 4% increase in Pirates game ratings last season, going from a 4.75 to 4.95. That was the eighth-best local rating in baseball, and the 4% increase was 11th-best. The actual number of watchers also slightly increased, from an average of 54,000 to 55,000. That was the 17th best across the league.