There’s a story on Awful Announcing titled “MLB local viewership down 4% in first half, led by drops from large market teams.”

Good read, and it explains that the Yankees and Mets local ratings are down by 26% and 12% on YES and SNY, respectively. The Dodgers and White Sox are up while the Cubs and Angels are down.

Relevant to the Delaware Valley is this nugget about the Phils, who are 52-48 and sitting in third place in the National League East:

Of baseball’s other top ten markets, the first half viewership is a mixed bag. The Phillies are up 20% to a 4.19 on NBC Sports Philadelphia. The Rangers are down 31% to a 1.38 on Fox Sports Southwest. The Bryce Harper-less Nationals are down 16% to a 2.21 on MASN. The Astros continue to improve on AT&T Houston, up 13% to a 4.25. The Red Sox have dropped 14% to a 5.31 on NESN, despite a World Championship last fall. Finally, the Braves are up 6% on Fox Sports South, drawing a 3.22 rating.

Good numbers, and they’re corroborated over at Sports Business Daily, after the jump:

Machado’s San Diego Padres posted a league-high 81% ratings increase on FS San Diego despite the team’s sub-.500 record at baseball’s All-Star break. Harper’s Philadelphia Phillies saw a 20% ratings increase on NBC Sports Philadelphia.

In stunning news, superstar players boost ratings!

But it’s a good number for the Phils, for sure, who were drawing pretty average ratings over the last few years, relative to what they were pulling from 2008 to 2012. We’ll see if those local numbers continue to hold above a 4.19 during the second half of the season, or whether the Phils burn out and people start changing the channel.