Dodgers vs. Blue Jays World Series Games 1 and 2 Averages Historic 30.5M Viewers

The World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays is drawing historic viewership.

According to MLB, the first two games of the World Series averaged 30.5 million combined viewers in the United States, Canada and Japan, marking the largest audience between the three countries since Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

The first two games of the series also averaged a combined audience of 19.8 million viewers between the United States and Canada, the most for the first two games of the World Series since 2016 and a 27 percent increase from last year's World Series.

There are a handful of factors driving the increased viewership. The first is the fact that a Canadian team is playing in the World Series for the first time in 32 years, drawing millions of viewers who otherwise might not have tuned in.

The second factor is the international star power on both rosters. Between the two teams, there are 13 internationally born players, spanning eight different countries and territories.

The biggest star of the group is Los Angeles' Shohei Ohtani, who has already had a historic World Series after going 4-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI on Monday.

Ohtani, along with Japanese stars like Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Rōki Sasaki, has led to increased viewership from their home country.

The Blue Jays took Game 1 of the World Series 11-4, but the Dodgers responded with a 5-1 win in Game 2. Game 3 delivered the best contest of the series thus far, going into a record-tying 18 innings before Freddie Freeman delivered a walk-off home run.

The Blue Jays will look to even the series in Game 4 as they pursue their first World Series title since 1993.