Under Sunnier Skies

Sergio Romo and Buster Posey (Chron photo)

The San Francisco Giants completed a sweep of the Detroit Tigers and won the 2012 World Series tonight, 4-3,in a hard-fought ten-inning contest. This was the Giants' second title in three years.

The TV ratings for the entire 2012 Series were low, probably due to the Giants' domination and no teams playing from New York, LA, or Chicago, but look at it this way: the Giants' sweep kept the ratings from being even worse by cutting the Series short.

If Detroit had won tonight, Game Five on Monday would have been problematic as a side effect of Hurricane Sandy:

Severe weather bearing down on the Eastern Seaboard could lead to waves as high as 33 feet on parts of Lake Michigan and dangerous conditions on other Great Lakes.

The National Weather Service has issued Great Lakes gale and storm warnings in effect through Wednesday. It says waves on Lake Michigan could be 10 to 18 feet by Monday afternoon, then build to 20 to 33 feet on Tuesday before subsiding. Waves on parts of Lake Superior and Lake Huron could top 20 feet.

A weather delay for a World Series whose conclusion was foregone (all 23 teams leading three games to none have gone on to win the Series in four or five games) would have been ratings death. When would the weather allow Game Five to be played? No one outside California or Michigan would care, especially with political and hurricane news capturing the headlines.

Given their comparative youth--the average age of Sunday's starting lineup was 29--the Giants' success should begin to attract a national following. Then future TV ratings as well as World Series games will occur under sunnier skies. © 2012 Stephen Yuen