When the Orioles and Royals each punched their ticket to the 2014 ALCS, many expected the ratings to be a bloodbath on TBS, especially considering that the network aired a marquee matchup of Cardinals-Dodgers in the 2013 NLCS. Those fears don’t appear to be well-founded through two games, as TBS’s coverage through two games is averaging 5.12 million viewers, an increase of 9% from 2014. The 3.1 rating for the two games is also up, though just 3%, from last year’s matchup.

Consider this – Baltimore and Kansas City are both outside of the top 25 metered markets in the country, and are the two smallest markets in the American League. The two markets are a combined 70% smaller than Los Angeles and St. Louis. And yet, the ALCS is topping last year’s NLCS. That’s pretty impressive stuff and shows how the nation has been somewhat captured by the stories at hand.

Game 2 was where TBS really shined in the ratings department. Despite an identical Saturday afternoon timeslot, this year’s ALCS drew 4.3 million viewers, a 26% increase from Game 2 of last year’s NLCS. The 2.6 rating for Game 2 is also up 18% on 2013. The game also rolled locally, drawing a 30.5 in Kansas City and a 21.6 in Baltimore.

Maybe, just maybe, the concerns about having a small market team in the World Series aren’t as dire as they need to be. It would be great if MLB picked up some massive viewership numbers for the World Series on Fox, but it’ll be very tough to top the 8.9 rating and 15.0 million viewers that last year’s Fall Classic between the Red Sox and Cardinals averaged. But this year, the Series will be avoiding the NFL on Thursday and Monday, unlike last year. Maybe that could somehow, someway, propel MLB above their 2013 viewership.

Oh, and by the way – the 18-49 demo is up 9% this year from the 2013 NLCS. So much for those horrendously long games driving away young viewers in droves.