LOS ANGELES — U.S. viewers for the first two games of World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays dropped 14% from last year’s matchup between the Dodgers and the New York Yankees, but Canadian and Japanese audiences set records.

Last year’s first two games averaged 14.55 million and this year’s first two averaged 12..5 million on Fox, Fox Deportes, Fox One streaming, the Fox Sports app and Univision, Major League Baseball said Tuesday.

MLB said the combined 32.6 million viewers for the opener in the U.S., Canada and Japan were its highest since the Chicago Cubs‘ ended their 108-year title draught by beating Cleveland in Game 7 of the 2016 Series.

Toronto’s 11-4 win in Game 1 averaged 13,305,000 and Los Angeles’ 5-1 victory in Game 2, which did not include Univision coverage, averaged 11.63 million, Fox said.

Los Angeles’ 6-3, 10-inning win in last year’s opener that ended with Freddie Freeman‘s grand slam was seen by 15.2 million, the most-watched Series game since 2019. The Dodgers’ 4-2 victory in Game 2 last year was viewed by 13.44 million.

Game 1 this year drew 7 million viewers in Canada and Game 2 was watched by 6.6 million, the two most-watched Blue Jays games on Sportsnet. The network is owned by Rogers Communications Inc., the parent company of the Blue Jays.

The opener also was broadcast with French-language commentary on TVA Sports and drew 502,000, that network’s most-watched game.

This year’s opener averaged 11.8 million on NHK-G, the most-viewed World Series game in Japan televised by a single network, and Game 2 averaged 9.5 million on NHK-BS for a two-game Japanese average of 10.7 million.

The two-game average in the U.S., Canada and Japan was 30.5 million.

LOS ANGELES — Toronto Blue Jays star George Springer was not in the starting lineup for Tuesday’s Game 4 of the World Series after leaving Monday night’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers with right side discomfort.

Springer, 36, suffered the injury on a swing in the seventh inning of Game 3, exiting not long after calling for the athletic trainer.

Springer underwent an MRI, but the team wasn’t forthcoming about the results, with manager John Schneider indicating only that Springer was “hour-to-hour.”

“I think swinging will be the key to kind of determine if he’s in there or not,” Schneider said earlier Tuesday, not long before the lineup was announced. “But he was the first one here, a lot of treatment, a lot of work, and George is going to do everything he can to be ready.”

Springer has been a key offensive cog and leader during the Blue Jays’ postseason run. He has four home runs this month to go along with an .884 OPS, including a three-run homer in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners.

He injured his right knee on a hit by pitch in that series but was able to start the next day.

Bo Bichette replaced Springer as Toronto’s designated hitter in Game 4, with left fielder Nathan Lukes leading off. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. batted second followed by Bichette and then right fielder Addison Barger.

“Whenever this season is over, you guys will be surprised to see how much [Springer] has grinded physically,” Schneider said.

Springer’s status for the rest of the series is unclear, but he remains on the Toronto roster.