Advertisement

Are you fanatical enough to spend $4,000 on a Phillies game ticket?

Jeff Horvath, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
·4 min read

Oct. 14—Phillies fanatics who want to see their team take on the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citizens Bank Park may have to break the bank to do it.

Philadelphia earned its second trip to the National League Championship Series in as many years with a Wild Card Series sweep of the Miami Marlins and a division series victory over an Atlanta Braves squad that boasted the best regular season record in baseball.

Arizona comes to town Monday unbeaten in playoff action, having swept the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers in back-to-back series. But fans who want to watch the NLCS in person should prepare to stretch their baseball budgets.

Tickets

Game 1 tickets ranged from several hundred to several thousand dollars on resale sites as of Saturday afternoon. The cheapest standing room ticket available via Ticketmaster cost $378 before fees. That may be the best option for fans who just want to get through the gate.

Fans who want a seat in the stadium should expect to pay more, and significantly more if they want the best view. The lone ticket listed Saturday on StubHub for a seat in Section D, directly behind home plate, cost $4,312 after estimated fees. Seats available on Ticketmaster in the right field upper deck ranged from just over $500 to more than $750 each, while seats closer to field level down the third base line ranged from more than $600 to nearly $1,500 before fees.

Hotels

With Game 1's first pitch scheduled for 8:07 p.m., local fans who don't want to make the late-night drive back to Northeast Pennsylvania may still be able to find a relatively cheap hotel room in the city.

Several rooms available through Booking.com cost less than $200 as of Saturday. Most rooms at the Live! Casino and Hotel Philadelphia, located just about a third of a mile from the stadium, cost more than $600 before taxes and fees, a review of several booking sites found.

Rates may be higher and rooms more scarce at city hotels closer to gametime.

Concessions

Citizens Bank Park offers a multitude of food and drink options, from cheesesteaks and barbeque to plant-based meals, for fans who want to grab a bite at the ballgame. Prices vary by item and vendor, but more traditional ballpark fare is available for fans on a budget.

A USA Today analysis published in May put the price of a Citizens Bank Park hotdog at $4.63, which was among the cheapest in Major League Baseball. It also compared the cheapest beer option available at stadiums around the league. In Philadelphia, it was about $0.62 per fluid ounce.

A concessions map of the stadium is available online at mlb.com/phillies/ballpark.

Parking, tolls

Fans can order a prepaid parking pass for postseason games at Citizens Bank Park online for $25. Drivers taking the Pennsylvania Turnpike from downtown Scranton to the ballpark will pay $12.10 in tolls with E-ZPass and $24.90 without, according to the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's toll calculator.Odds

Sports bettors who want to put some action on the NLCS have many options to do so. FanDuel offered -178 odds Saturday afternoon for the Phillies to win the series, meaning a gambler could bet $178 for a chance to win $100.

Philadelphia was also favored in Game 1. A bettor could risk $162 to win $100 if the Phillies win that game, though those odds may have changed slightly and could change again prior to first pitch.

The Phillies had the second best odds to win the World Series of the four remaining teams. FanDuel offered Phillies bettors +200 odds for a World Series victory, meaning a $100 bet would win $200 if Philadelphia wins its first world championship since 2008.

The Houston Astros, who beat the Phillies in the 2022 World Series, are favored to repeat as champions with odds of +185. Those odds, too, are subject to change.

The winner of the Phillies/Diamondback series will play either the Astros or the Texas Rangers in the World Series, which begins Oct. 27.

Contact the writer: jhorvath@scrantontimes.com; 570-348-9141; @jhorvathTT on X.

Start a dialogue, stay on topic and be civil.

If you don't follow the rules, your comment may be deleted.

User Legend: iconModeratoriconTrusted User