New York ? Buoyed by the presence of the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox, baseball’s division series were the highest-rated on network television in eight years.

Fox Sports averaged a 7.5 rating for its five national broadcasts, a 21 percent increase from last season’s 6.2. It was the highest rating since 1995, when the first-round playoff games were regionalized on the Baseball Network and had a 10.4.

“It really shows that if you provide compelling matchups and interesting games that fans continue to be captivated by baseball,” Bob DuPuy, baseball’s chief operating officer, said Tuesday.

Despite the high ratings, baseball was still beaten by the NFL Monday night. Game 5 of the Boston-Oakland series had an 8.5 rating compared to a season-low 10.2 for ABC’s coverage of Indianapolis at Tampa Bay.

Since 1996, no baseball playoff game in the first two rounds has beaten “Monday Night Football” in ratings.

However, this year’s 20 percent edge for the NFL was considerably lower than last year, when the Green Bay-Chicago football game (10.6) was 54 percent higher than Game 5 between San Francisco and Atlanta. This year’s baseball game increased 23 percent from last year.