Spring is upon us, and there’s no surer sign than that most welcome of unofficial holidays – MLB’s Opening Day. That annual rite is getting underway beginning on Thursday across North America (not counting the Dodgers’ already played contest in Korea), and one way to gauge the fan excitement for the season is looking at what prices fans are paying for tickets across the league.
According to data provided by Ticket Club, clubs like the Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, and Texas Rangers are showing out with fans paying top dollar for tickets, while in some markets, fans are able to get in to see their clubs’ home opener for less than the price of a hot dog and a beer.
“No matter what team you root for, Opening Day is always a chance to be excited about the season to come, because everybody’s tied for first place,” says Sean Burns of Ticket Club, a resale marketplace with a membership model that eliminates service fees. “That said, it’s pretty striking to see the wide range of prices being paid for tickets – from an average as high as $425 paid to see the Dodgers host the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday to a “get-in” price as low as just $12 to see the Miami Marlins open the same day against Pittsburgh.”
According to Burns, the highest “get-in” price currently seen on Ticket Club is for a rivalry game opening the season Thursday in Philadelphia, where the Braves visit Citizen’s Bank Ballpark with a minimum asking price of $148. There are five games where the least expensive ticket available currently exceeds $100, including the upstart Baltimore Orioles’ opener against the Angels at Camden Yards.
In terms of average prices paid, the range starts at the bottom with the Oakland Athletics, whose fans are clearly not terribly excited to pay to see a ballclub that has shared its intent to bolt for Las Vegas – tickets for their opener against the Guardians start at $16 and average at $32. The overall average price paid for fans shopping for opening day tickets stands at just over $150, with 14 clubs seeing an average between $100-200 paid thus far.
From Ticket Club’s blog:
The rarified air of the highest prices being paid – where baseball fans can save the most at Ticket Club with our membership model that eliminates service fees – are for the six clubs seeing average prices between $2-300, including the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers ($284 average), and perennial big-spenders like the Houston Astros ($208), San Francisco Giants ($270) and New York Yankees ($271). At the top are the Dodgers, who made an enormous splash with the signing of superstar Shohei Ohtani after a second-round exit in last year’s playoffs.
Opening Day contests kick off with 15 contests on Thursday, March 28. Other home openers are spread through the next two weeks, with the latest coming at Fenway Park when the Boston Red Sox host the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday, April 9.
Opening Day Ticket Links
Opening Day Tickets at MLB Club Websites
Opening Day Tickets at MEGASeats
Opening Day Tickets at SeatGeek
Opening Day Tickets at StubHub
Opening Day Tickets at Ticket Club | Free 1-year membership
