The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox own the most storied rivalry in American sports. You can toss in “arguably” for good measure, but there’s little arguing around the premium their playoff tickets typically draw on the secondary market — and the best-of-five playoff series they’ll kick off Friday night is no exception
There’s history between the two teams, and lots of it, perhaps no better reflected than in 2004 when the Red Sox became the first MLB team to ever overcome a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series. They would snatch a World Series berth from the Yankees and go on to claim their first championship since 1918.
How deep this year’s series runs could determine where ticket prices rise (or fall) from here. The pairing is the most expensive series of the divisional round by most measures. Boston’s ticket average of $395 through early Thursday is a 22% increase from their 2017 divisional series, according to secondary-market ticket tracker TicketIQ. Notably, the Yankees’ average of $396 this year is just a 2.5% increase from their 2017 divisional series.
Dominant East Coast rivalry or not, for now the rarity of the Chicago Cubs’ repeat playoff runs of recent years, culminating in a 2016 World Series win that quenched a century-plus drought for the “lovable losers,” still dominates recent ticket-sale rankings, as shown below, according to TicketIQ.
As for Red Sox fans who were already treated to a franchise-record 108 regular-season wins, the average secondary list prices of $395 are the priciest division series playoff tickets for the team this decade, up from an average of $323 last year, $277 in 2016 and $315 in 2013.
Only the Yankees edge out that price this year.
Reports of baseball’s slow fade as America’s pastime have only picked up in recent seasons. But ticket demand for these big games could counter that view.
To be sure, ticket pricing raises questions about market size, with matchups between higher-population areas typically driving prices. Or maybe baseball fans just prefer the expected high-octane offense of the American League’s designated hitter over the more traditional chess play of the National League, where pitchers factor into the lineup.
The two American League series — the other pits the Cleveland Indians against the Houston Astros — have an average price of $324. National League prices — for the Colorado Rockies against the Milwaukee Brewers and the Atlanta Braves against the Los Angeles Dodgers — so far trail well behind, at an average of $181.
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