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Cubs' clincher draws largest audience in FS1 history

Jamie Squire / Getty Images Sport / Getty

A lot of people witnessed history on Saturday night.

Game 6 of the NLCS saw a record number of eyeballs watch the Chicago Cubs clinch their first pennant in 71 years. An average of 9,706,000 viewers - good for a 7.17 overnight rating - tuned into FS1 for the game, the largest audience in the channel's brief history, according to Maury Brown of Forbes.

Television audiences peaked at over 12.2 million viewers during the historic ninth inning, which sent the Cubs back to the World Series for the first time since 1945.

With an average of 6,953,000 viewers over the six games, viewership for the 2016 NLCS rose 80 percent from what FS1 drew for the 2015 ALCS between Toronto and Kansas City. It's also a marked increase from the 2015 NLCS on TBS; the Mets' sweep of the Cubs attracted a little over 7 million viewers.

Game 1 of the World Series between the Cubs and Cleveland Indians gets going Tuesday at 8:08 p.m. ET on FOX.

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