The Great Canadian sports ratings report: When worlds collide …

It's always interesting when worlds collide, assuming it's not your world that's in the collision.

And when major sports go head-to-head, the results are often fascinating. It happened twice during the past week, with some surprising outcomes.

On Thursday night, the third game of the World Series aired on Fox and Rogers Sportsnet. The Toronto Argonauts and Winnipeg Blue Bombers clashed in a CFL game while the NFL offered up the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, if you'll pardon the expression.

As far as raw numbers go, the CFL game won (517,000), baseball came second (465,000) and the NFL lagged far behind (105,000.) In reality, baseball took the night since most likely another army of Canadians watched on Fox, whose Canadian viewers aren't tracked. The NFL game, possibly the worst matchup of the season, was aired on Sportsnet360, a channel that viewers may have had to conduct forensic searches to find.

What does it say? Probably nothing more than the fact that not even NFL die-hards will watch a game as bad as that one.

On Saturday night, the CBC had three regional games while Sportsnet and Fox had the World Series and TSN aired the important Saskatchewan-Calgary game. Surprising nobody, hockey easily took the day with more than 2 million viewers.

Equally unsurprisingly, the hockey numbers were basically where they've been all year -- meaning football and baseball likely didn't steal any viewers from Hockey Night In Canada. The other two were lower than what they usually draw.

The big surprise is that a fairly compelling World Series is drawing a 28 per cent smaller audience to Sportsnet this year. Granted, that's 28 per cent lower than the most-watched series in Sportsnet history, but this series is far more interesting and competitive than last year's.

Maybe more people are watching on Fox this year. Or maybe the John Farrell factor really is scaring off Canadian fans. Or could it be Gregg Zaun?

Here are the top-rated sports shows according to BBM Canada overnight ratings:

1. NHL, Pens-Leafs/Sharks-Habs/Jets-Stars, Saturday, CBC: 2,108,000

2. NFL, Early games, Sunday, CTV: 809,000

3. CFL, Riders at Stamps, Saturday, TSN: 771,000

4. NHL, Caps at Flames, Saturday, CBC: 722,000

5. Figure skating, Skate Canada, Saturday, CTV, 666,000

6. World Series, Bosox-Cards, Sunday, Sportsnet: 645,000 (Fox ratings not calculated)

7. CFL, Esks at Lions, Friday, TSN: 604,000

8. CFL, Bombers at Argos, Thursday, TSN: 517,000

9. World Series, Bosox-Cards, Saturday, Sportsnet: 496,000 (Fox ratings not calculated)

10. World Series, Bosox-Cards, Thursday, Sportsnet: 465,000 (Fox ratings not calculated)

11. CFL, Als at Ticats, Saturday, TSN: 451,000

12. NFL, Packers at Vikings, Sunday, TSN: 411,000 (NBC ratings not included)

13. Auto racing, NASCAR Sprint Cup, Sunday, TSN: 362,000

14. Figure skating, Skate Canada, Friday, TSN: 228,000

15. Soccer, Man U at Stoke, Saturday, TSN: 201,000

16. Auto racing, F1 Indian GP, Sunday, TSN: 165,000

17. NFL, Late afternoon games, Sunday, Sportsnet: 151,000

THREE TO WATCH

The Flawed Series: The 2013 World Series might be remembered more for its gaffes than its great plays, but it definitely isn't lacking in drama. Game 6 goes Wednesday and should feature a few more boots and mental misadventures. 8 p.m., Fox, Sportsnet.

Leafs in Lotus Land: It's always a big deal when two Canadian teams meet on Hockey Night In Canada, so Saturday's Leafs-Canucks game might have something more interesting than Don Cherry's latest jacket or diatribe. Saturday, 7 p.m., CBC.

The Big Con: ESPN's 30 for 30 series has produced some great stuff and Big Shot is no disappointment. It tells the bizarre story of John Spanos, who offered to rescue the New York Islanders in 1996 with a $165 million buyout. All he was missing was the $165 million. Sunday, 7:30 p.m., TSN2.