More than eight million people watched the Texas Rangers bullpen implode Friday night against the New York Yankees on TBS, making it the most watched opening game of a League Champion Series on cable television.

Game 1 of Rangers-Yankees scored a 5.0 rating and 8.11 million viewers, a 19 percent increase over the 2009 NLCS Game 1 between Philadelphia and Los Angeles on TBS.

It was also the second-largest audience for any LCS Game 1 since TBS and FOX started sharing MLB postseason coverage in 2007.

Locally, the game drew a 13.9 rating in the New York market and a 21.9 rating in the Dallas Fort-Worth area.