• by Wayne Friedman , October 20, 2009

Heavy Major League Baseball playoff action is starting to make a mess of the fall ratings race. But when the dust cleared on Monday, CBS was on top.

CBS' four sitcoms between 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. still gave the network top-rank status with its "The Big Bang Theory," now getting to a Nielsen 5.3 rating/13 share among 18-49 viewers, the best-rated show of the evening. The second-best-rated show also belonged to CBS: "Two and a Half Men" with a 4.8/12.

This gave CBS an overall 4.1 rating/11 share among 18-49 viewers. Fox was next at a 3.9/10.

Fox's dramatic Yankees-Angels playoff game overran into prime time, which took some steam out of "House." Instead of its typical 5 plus ratings, it grabbed a 4.5/11. The show's now-regular Monday night programming partner, "Lie to Me" took a 2.9/7, in its slightly shifted time slot.

ABC's came in third place on Monday among 18-49ers. "Dancing with the Stars" posted a 3.6/9, about the same as it has done in recent weeks. The same went for "Castle" at 10 p.m., getting to a 2.4/6.

NBC didn't see much movement on the night, either. "Heroes" got to a 2.5/7; new show "Trauma" still struggles, but hasn't lost any ground, at a 1.8/4. "Jay Leno" took a 1.4/4, its lowest Monday night numbers so far.

CW's shows slipped some. "Gossip Girl" is now down to 1.98 million viewers, from 2.4 million the week before. "One Tree Hill" is at 2.21 million, also down from 2.55 million.