The New York Yankees' four-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves on NBC got a 16.0 national rating and a 26 share, up from a 14.1 rating and 24 share for the Yankees' sweep of the San Diego Padres last year on Fox.

Before last year, the low had been a 16.4 rating for the 1989 earthquake-interrupted World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics.

New York's 4-1 victory in Wednesday night's Game 4 got a 17.8 rating, up 7 percent from last season.

NBC estimates that more than 63 million people watched Game 4, which was the second-highest rated World Series game in three years. Game 7 of the 1997 Series between the Florida Marlins and Cleveland Indians had a 24.5 rating.

Saturday's Game 1 had a 14.2-26, up 15 percent from last season. Game 2, on Sunday night, posted a 15.0-23, up 19 percent from 1998.

NBC posted a 16.8-27 for Tuesday night's Game 3, up 9 percent from last season.

NBC sports chairman Dick Ebersol said that the network still made money, even though it was a four-game Series.

"Because the National League Championship Series went so well, there wasn't the final pressure like in the past," Ebersol said. "We made a little bit of money. ... Not a real big profit, though."

The NLCS went six games and had two extra-inning games, which resulted in additional advertising dollars.

The rating is the percentage of television households in the nation tuned to a program. Each ratings point represents about 1 million households. Share represents the percentage of sets tuned to the show.