The Tampa Bay Rays' 3-1 win over the Boston Red Sox in the decisive seventh game of the American League Championship Series was the most-watched baseball game in cable-television history.

Some 13.4 million viewers tuned in to Turner Sports' TBS last night as the Rays advanced to the World Series for the first time and ended Boston's title defense, the network said in a news release. It eclipsed the viewership of the 1998 Major League Baseball game in which Mark McGwire hit his then record- tying 61st home run.

The Rays' AL pennant-clinching win was watched in 7.9 percent of the 111.4 million U.S. households with televisions, making it the highest-rated regular-season or postseason game on cable or broadcast television this season. Baseball's All-Star Game, which was carried on News Corp.'s Fox network in July, was watched in 8.4 percent of homes.

"The Red Sox and Rays treated baseball fans to a classic ALCS and viewers made it a point to tune in to watch this tremendous series," Turner Sports President David Levy said in a statement.

The National League championship was broadcast on Fox, with the Philadelphia Phillies beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games to advance to the World Series for the first time in 15 years. Fox will also broadcast the World Series, which begins in two days at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.