No one watches the World Series without those teams because it is a long, overly drawn out, mediocre spectacle that starts way too late at night. Start those games at 7:05 Eastern on weekdays and 3:05-4:05 on weekends and see if it doesn't do better.
If you don't have the built in monster fan base of the Yanks or Sox then it just isn't going to pull in viewers if the game starts at some time well after 8 and doesn't end until 11-12 or later.
As much as I loathe both teams, there's a reason why any team that hosts them considers those games "prime" tickets and fills the park despite the jacked up prices. They are easily the best thing to happen to MLB.
They're the best and worst thing. It's really overwhelming how young people don't care about baseball and especially the MLB outside of New York and Boston. It might not be a problem now, but it could easily become a problem some day.
