By: Liz Farmer

OK, aside from the insanity of this past weekend at Camden Yards with Matt Wieters’ debut that drew more than 109,000 people over three days, attendance at the ballpark has been worrisome at best this year.

Oriole Park’s average attendance of 22,431 is down 18.5 percent through 29 games (even with the Wieters boost this weekend),  and Nationals Park in D.C. is down an abysmal 27.3 percent, pulling in about 21,000 fans a game.

But according to the latest MLB television ratings, the Nationals’ viewing is up 56 percent to average a 0.53 rating on MASN. It’s still the worst rating in the league, but that’s what optimistic marketers would call a silver lining. And the Orioles, who are notching a 3.1 rating so far this season, are up 13 percent on MASN.

League-wide, Fox’ and TBS’ ratings are holding at about 2.1 and 0.5 of their respective viewing segments through the first two months of the season. ESPN’s baseball viewing is down slightly to a 1.1 rating from 1.3 for the corresponding period last year.

Looking at the household viewing, the Orioles picked up about 4,000, increasing by 13 percent this year to average 34,000. The Nats also picked up about 4,000 households this year to average 12,000.

The difference in households watching games at home almost makes up for the difference in attendance for both teams — do you think people are really just substituting watching at home for going to a game?

On the other hand, I don’t care how much of a sports nut you are, going to a ball game and watching it on TV are two completely different experiences, and I wouldn’t think one is really an equal substitution for the other. What else could be happening here?