Strasburg Mania Fuels Strong Ratings in Washington

By Josh Land

Nationals

May 25, 2010, 10:50am

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Stephen Strasburg's latest Triple-A start has generated strong ratings in the Washington, D.C. market. While MASN has televised all four of Strasburg's starts for the Syracuse Chiefs, Monday night's game was the first live broadcast of the top prospect this season. The ratings peaked at a 0.9 HH rating, meaning more than 21,000 households in the Washington market tuned in to watch the young flamethrower. Since Strasburg only pitched five innings, the entire-game rating was a 0.5 HH rating, or nearly 12,000 homes. The highly touted Nationals prospect is 3-0 for Syracuse with a 0.39 ERA and 27 strike outs in just over 23 innings of work. The strong ratings for the Syracuse Chiefs on MASN further amplify the surging interest in the Nationals. In recent weeks, the Nationals have earned the highest television ratings in their six year history in Washington. On consecutive nights -- facing the New York Mets -- the Nationals scored back to back ratings of a 2.0, which means that nearly 47,000 households tuned in to watch each game.