Preliminary national Nielsen ratings show the Rockies' win against the Diamondbacks was the least- watched National League Championship Series in history.

The four games averaged 4.3 million viewers on TBS. Games 2 and 4, which started after 10 p.m. on the East Coast, drew 3.3 million and 3.8 million viewers.

Last year's Cardinals-Mets series, aired by Fox, an over-the-air network that has greater audience penetration than cable/satellite, averaged 10.5 million national viewers.

Ratings analysts also point out the late starting times, particularly in the East, drastically reduced the number of potential viewers, many of whom were not that familiar with the western-oriented teams.

Locally, an average 26.4 percent of the Denver area's 1.43 million TV homes watched the four games, compared with 13.6 percent of the TV homes in the Phoenix market.