As October begins, baseball fans from coast to coast are preparing to see the culmination of a long season as the Major League Baseball playoffs begin. With huge demand among fans for tickets to see their teams compete throughout the postseason, the secondary ticket market is thriving with tickets selling for big money.
It’s no surprise that the Chicago Cubs came in with highest average ticket prices prior to yesterday’s game for all three of their potential first round games at Wrigley Field with the Los Angeles Dodgers. According to RazorGator, the average selling price for NLDS tickets to see the “Lovable Losers” home games are more than $500, with the potential Game 5 at Wrigley Field netting an average ticket price of $665. On StubHub, the Cubs also carry the highest per ticket average among all other playoff teams with an average of $320. On TicketLiquidator, premium seats are listed at slightly below $3,000 apiece.
“The Cubs are leading the charge because of the starvation factor,” StubHub spokesman Sean Pate told Bloomberg.
While the Cubs had a rocky start to their run at breaking their own curse, losing to the Dodgers 7-2 in Game 1, the Boston Red Sox, who are famous for breaking their own curse four years ago, got off to a better start winning the first game of their series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Though the series is currently taking place on the west coast, tickets for Boston’s two home games at Fenway Park are selling for an average of $189 according to StubHub. An average that is down more than $100 from last season’s first round match-up with the same Angels ball club.
The Milwaukee Brewers were able to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 1982, and their playoff hungry fans have come out in support. Games 3 and 4 in Milwaukee have an average per game ticket prices on RazorGator of $306 and $258, respectively. The “Brew-Crew” also carries the second highest ticket selling price on StubHub for their two potential home games, with an average of $190.
Among the remaining playoff teams, the Tampa Bay Rays, who are coming off a record-setting year for their franchise with 97 wins, have the lowest ticket selling prices on both sites. It is the same story as it has been all year long, as the Rays finished in the bottom five in attendance only filling a little more than 50 percent of the seats at Tropicana Field, based on numbers from ESPN.
(Image accompanying this story is from ESPN.com)
