NEW YORK — Baseball has beaten football in a head-to-head television ratings matchup.

Game 6 of the American League Championship Series between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels was seen by 15.5 million people Sunday night. The Nielsen Co. said that at the same time just under 15 million were watching the NFL game between the Arizona Cardinals and the New York Giants.

The baseball playoffs almost enabled Fox to loosen CBS’s stranglehold on the television ratings lead last week, but not quite. Four games of the Angels-Yankees series ranked among the top 25 shows in prime time last week.

But of 12 scripted shows on that list, nine were broadcast on CBS. “NCIS” was again the nation’s most popular show.