MLB
We have our MLB playoff line up
Thursday, October 1st, 2009 | MLB | No Comments
Oct is here so that means its playoff and World Series time. We have the lineup of all the teams in it for 2009.
For the American League we have
Minnesota Twins at the New York Yankees
Boston Red Sox at the Los Angeles Angels
For the National League we have
St. Louis Cardinals at the LA Dodgers
Colorado Rockies at the Philadelphia Phillies
You can click on any of the teams to see the full schedule for the 2009 playoffs.
AL wins again
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 | MLB | No Comments
For the last 12 out of 13 years the American League has won the All Star Game. Last night they did it again not that anyone was watching. Now we can go back to the baseball we care about.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| American League « | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 1 |
| National League | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
|
W: J. Papelbon (1-0) L: H. Bell (0-1)
S: M. Rivera (1) HR: ALA – None NLA – None |
MLB tickets for under $40
Thursday, March 12th, 2009 | MLB, Sports | 1 Comment
With the baseball season starting in less then a month and with the economy in the toilet, I thought this would be a good time for a helpful how to post. Working in the ticket business for almost 13 years the one question I get all the time is “How can I go to a baseball game and not pay hundreds of dollars?” I hope to help answer this question for you today. Now if you are looking to go to a Chicago Cubs game in July for $40 its probably not going to happen, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find any cheap Cubs tickets for the 2009 season. Here are some of my tips:
1. Pick a off month, in April and September you can find tickets cheaper. Most will be less then what the team is selling them at. Many brokers look at these months as a lose and just want to move them. You can find tickets for games in April that range from $5-$35 dollars. Also many teams offer deals at the park for these games, such as cheaper food and beer. You can go to a game with food for under $50 on off months.
2. Pick a weekday game, April and September are not the only months with good deals there are many games in May and June that you can get a great deal on tickets. You will just have to be willing to go during the week. Take a sick day off from work and go to a game on a Tuesday, this could save you $50-$100 on tickets over going on a weekend. We have April games for the Red Sox @ $35-$39
3. Do not pick games with big giveaways or promotions, almost all teams offer promotions to get fans to the park and most of them people don’t care about. Some of these promotions a lot of people do care about and try to avoid these games as tickets will cost you more. If the New York Yankees are giving away 5,000 signed A-Rod balls most likely this is going to be a big game.
4. Wait until day of the game. Now with this tip you need to be very careful, because this could come back to bite you. There are many games that bomb the day of or the day before and because of this you can find hundreds of tickets cheap, but the opposite could also be true. I have a lot of games that heat up two or three days before the game and price could go up $100-$200 in a few days. I would only use this tip if you really don’t care if you get into the game. This is only for the people that only want to go to the game only if they find a good deal. If you must get into the game or you are taking a client, I would not wait until the last minute. One other thing, you also run the risk of tickets running out, I have worked a lot of games that no one had seats left and people were paying crazy money for bad seats. Supply does run out or super low.
What it comes down to is use your head, like I said before if you are on a budget, trying to go to a July 4th game is not a good idea. There are cheap tickets available for any team (even Yankees and Red Sox) you just need to be willing to adjust your schedule to find them. Feel free to email us with any questions on this.
You can check out all of our teams on our MLB page to find cheap tickets.
Chicago Cubs Favored To Win 3rd Straight NL Central Title
Sunday, February 15th, 2009 | MLB, Sports | No Comments
The Chicago Cubs are once again favored to win the National League Central Division title for a 3rd straight year. For an inside look at the race for the NL Central division title, take a look here with Jeff Passan spring training division tour.
Guess we’ll have to wait and see how it all turns out. Check back often to the Ticket Chest Blog for more updates on your favorite MLB teams.
Varitek, Red Sox & Maine, Mets Reach Deals
Sunday, February 1st, 2009 | Boston Red Sox, MLB, Sports | No Comments
Two late MLB deals to report:
The Boston Red Sox and free agent catcher Jason Varitek agreed on a 2-year deal on Friday. Varitek will earn $5 million during the 2009 MLB season. The Red Sox have a club option for the 2010 MLB season which would pay Tek $5 million if exercised. Tek has a player option for the 2010 MLB season which would pay him $3 million if exercised. The 2010 year also has incentives built in which could increase the payout by an additional $2 million.
The New York Mets and starting pitcher John Maine agreed upon a 1-year deal that will pay him $2.6 million during the 2009 MLB season. This means that the 2 sides will avoid salary arbitration. Maine had requested $3 million, while the Mets countered with $2.2 million. Maine will earn an additional $25,000 if he pitches 200 innings or more. During the 2008 MLB season, Maine earned $450,000 and went 10-8 with a 4.18 ERA in 25 starts.
MLB Hall of Fame
Monday, January 12th, 2009 | MLB | No Comments
Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. This was Rice 15th and his last shot at making it in. Henderson is a stolen base recored holder. Ricke was one of baseball most feared hitters in the 70s and 80s.
MLB agents look ahead to tax increase
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 | MLB, Sports | No Comments
A few hours after Barack Obama won the election some MLB agents are already planing for the future. Obama has proposed increasing the top federal income tax rate from 35% to 39.6% and this has agents worried for their top clients. Any signing bonuses paid before Jan 1 would be taxed at the current rate and would not be subjected to any tax increase. Looks like agents are going to try and close as many deals as they can before Jan 1. I’m sure we will have more stories like this before the end of the year.
Major League Mess, Dictator Selig Suspends World Series Game 5
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 | MLB, Sports | No Comments
Bud Selig found himself in a Major League mess during Game 5 of the World Series at Citizens Bank Ballpark in Philadelphia. The Phillies led the series 3-1, and had their ace on the mound for what could have been the deciding game in the 2008 World Series. The weather forecast for Monday (the scheduled date for Game 5) and Tuesday (a scheduled off-day) was not good, but the powers that be thought there was enough of a window to get World Series Game 5 in on Monday night. We would either have a World Series Champion or we would be heading back to cowbell land for Game 6 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. By the end of a raw, wet, dangerous night, we had neither.
The umpires and MLB called the game in the middle of the 6th inning, just after the Rays’ Carlos Pena got only his second hit of the World Series – maybe the most important hit of his young career. That hit tied the game at 2, and took a lot of pressure off of MLB’s Commissioner, Bud Selig. You see, little did we know that Dictator Selig had altered the MLB landscape by usurping complete authority over World Series competition. Following the suspension, Dictator Selig announced that there would never be a World Series Game that did not go the full 9 innings under his seemingly endless watch. Now under “regular season rules”, once 4 1/2 innings are played, if the home team is winning and a game is delayed because of inclement weather and ultimately not able to be completed, the home team is awarded a victory. Nowhere in the MLB rulebook does it state that post-season games or World Series games are to be treated any differently. So how does Dictator Selig make the determination that there won’t be any non-9-inning World Series games under his watch? I don’t know.
Now as a baseball fan, I didn’t want to see a World Series Game end after 5 1/2 innings either. Especially with Game 5 being an elimination game, it would have been a shame to see the Phillies win the 2008 World Series with a close 2-1 victory in Game 5 where the Rays only had 18 outs instead of the normal 27. But the rules are the rules and if Dictator Selig and MLB intended for all World Series games to go the full 9 innings no matter what (even if it meant suspending play and picking up where the teams left off on the following day), then Dictator Selig should have proposed the rule change during the off-season, obtained the necessary ownership approval and announced the new rule to the media and the fans. Selig’s authoritative mantra and unilateral decision flies right in the face of baseball and the legends who played the game well before Selig became King. This is not the first time Dictator Selig has shown blatant disrespect for the game. Selig intentionally ignored baseball’s rampant steroids use, turning a blind eye to the abuse so that the fans would come out to see McGwire and Sosa chase Aaron’s home run record. We saw a glimpse of Dictator Selig when he unilaterally called for the 2002 All-Star Game to end in a tie after 9 innings had been played to protect the players from unwanted injury. While respected entrepreneur Mark Cuban is still in the hunt to buy the Chicago Cubs because he has offered one of the highest bids, rumors abound that Dictator Selig and his “old-boys” network will never allow Cuban to be an owner of an MLB team because he isn’t of the right “pedigree”. And last night, Dictator Selig and the umpires allowed the players to risk injury all night long in the wet, sloppy, dangerous field conditions, simply because the Phillies had taken that 2-0 lead in the 1st inning, and still held onto that slim 2-1 lead after 4 1/2 innings had been played. Dictator Selig and his cohorts finally got the lucky break they needed in the 6th inning, when Carlos Pena drove in B.J. Upton to tie the game at 2. Now Selig could suspend the tie game and announce his edict that no World Series game would end until all 9 innings had been played. With the game tied at 2-2, that outcome was obvious, but if the game had still been 2-1 during the middle of the 6th inning, it would have been interesting to see what Dictator Selig would have ruled.
Given the weather forecast, World Series Game 5 probably should not have been played in the first place. Once started, however, the game should have been played according to the current MLB rules in place. Selig and the umpires should have called the game prior to the top of the 5th inning – given that it did not appear likely that the rain would stop at any point soon – to avoid any controversy. Or if the game had been delayed (and ultimately suspended) during the middle of the 5th inning, the Phillies should have been declared the World Series Champions with the rain-shortened Game 5 victory. I’m sure Phillies fans would have welcomed their first World Series Championship in 25 years regardless of the circumstances.
As for the “game” itself, it was hard to analyze the play on the field given the poor conditions the players faced. Cold, raw weather, driving rain – it was not a night meant for baseball. The Phillies sent 8 men to the plate in the 1st inning, scoring on Shane Victorino’s 2-RBI single to take a 2-0 lead off Scott Kazmir. The Rays cut the lead in half on an RBI single by Evan Longoria in the 4th inning that scored Carlos Pena. Going into that inning, Pena and Longoria were hitless for the entire series. Then as the rain continued to pour down, we had the Carlos Pena 6th inning drama that tied the game at 2. Cole Hamels was as good as it gets again – 6 innings, only 75 pitches, 2 earned runs, 5 hits and 3 strikeouts. It doesn’t get much better than that and he probably could have gone another 2-3 innings if not for the rain. Kazmir did not have his best stuff, but he kept his team in it until the suspension. Kazmir struck out 5, but he gave up 4 hits and walked 6 in only 4 innings of work.
The resumption of World Series Game 5 – weather permitting – will occur tonight at 8:35PM EST. Stay tuned for more drama – hopefully the teams will be able to clean up the mess created by Dictator Selig.
Phillies, Rays Set To Square Off in 2008 World Series
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 | MLB, Sports | No Comments
The Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays will meet in Game 1 of the 2008 World Series on Wednesday, October 22nd at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Two 24-year old left-handers will face off in Game 1 – 14-game winner Cole Hamels for the Phillies and -game winner Scott Kazmir for the Rays. Hamels has been spectacular in the 2008 post-season. He has won all 3 games that he has started, going at least 7 innings in each start. He has only let up a total of 13 hits and 3 earned runs during that stretch, striking out 22 batters. Kazmir, on the other hand, has been a little inconsistent, winning only once in 3 starts and getting through 6 full innings only once. Each pitcher will have to have his “A” game, as both offenses have what it takes to score runs in bunches and in a hurry. Phillies stars Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell present one of the most formidable top of the lineups in all of baseball. At the same time, the young stars from the Rays seem unfazed by going from last to first to advance to the World Series for the 1st time in franchise history. Rays Center Fielder B.J. Upton has hit 7 home runs and driven in 15 runs during the 2008 post-season, while American League Rookie of the Year Evan Longoria has 4 home runs and 8 RBI’s over his last 4 playoff games alone. With both Tropicana Field and Citizen’s Bank Ballpark catering to the home run ball, we should see a lot of excitement from the 2 teams.
My prediction – Rays in 7, at home in front of those crazy, cowbell-ringing fans, desperated for that 1st World Championship. Cole Hamels will win both of his starts for the Phillies, but the rest of the Phillies will struggle against the deep, talented Rays offense. B.J. Upton will be named the World Series Most Valuable Player. And for those of you who say this isn’t a great series to watch, I beg to differ. While the ratings might not be great, the Rays story-line alone is a masterpiece. The Rays have had the least number of wins in all of baseball for each of the last 2 seasons. Event his year when the team was in 1st place, the Rays would still only draw around 25,000 fans for each game. With the young talent in place, and a savvy Manager in Joe Maddon, the Rays will be a force to be reckoned with in the AL East for several years to come. As for the Phillies, the club has only won one World Series Championship in i ts 125-year history in 1980. Since the Philadelphia 76ers won the NBA Championship in 1983, the city of Philadelphia has seen 7 teams lose in its respective sports Championship Series – including the Phillies in 1983 and 1993. Manager Charlie Manuel, always seems to be on the hot seat, yet he has had his Phillies advance to the playoffs in 2 consecutive seasons. Both teams have compelling stories to tell, but only one will have the dream ending with the World Series Championship Trophy in its grasps…
Nats Report: Loosening the Belt Inside the Beltway?
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 | MLB, Sports | No Comments
WASHINGTON, DC. , October 22, 2008. This week The Washington Nationals’ owners finally agreed to pay $3.5 million to the District of Columbia for past due rent related to the the team’s (unimpressive) use of Nationals Park during its inaugural 2008 season. Previously Nats’ owners had withheld payment under the theory that the ballpark was not “substantially complete,” which is an odd argument given that the same can be said for the Nats, a lackluster assortment of minor leaguers who yielded a record of 59 wins and 102 losses.
Back when baseball in DC was still a dream, Nats owners convinced DC officials to contribute $611 million in public funds towards the construction of a new stadium. But then came the wedding . . .
The troubling fact from the perspective of would-be Nats fans is this: if Nats owners won’t even pay the rent, why should we expect them to pay for talent? The Nats finished the 2008 season ranked 28th in the Majors in runs scored, and 26th in runs allowed, and last in people who care. A total of 17 people watched the Nationals on television. The first year attendance at Nationals Park was less than the first year attendance at other recently constructed ballparks. These are disturbing signals because many DC area fans want to care about their team, but simply can’t at this point.
Maybe Nats fans just need to learn to cheer the small things, and in that sense we got a big win this week. The Nats paid the landlord.
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