June 27, 2014, Cardinals at Dodgers

I've been negative about Dodger Stadium, not once, but twice. I stand by whet I wrote. But I'll mention something special about Dodger Stadium that few ballparks seem to have and that's a view. Its not a skyline view, but it's still far nicer to view than a bunch of billboards or outfield seats.

Game 18: June 22, 2014 Phillies at Cardinals

After the Royals game, we went to Gates Barbecue in Independence, enjoying a good meal. After that we hit the road. As I mentioned in an earlier post, there was no Kansas City to St. Louis flight that could guarantee us arriving on time for the game. So the car from Kansas City was going to take us to St. Louis. St. Louis was about 240 miles away. Driving there would've gotten us in late at night. Why pay St. Louis prices for a hotel room that we'd check into and then leave 11 hours later? Instead we drove halfway, to Columbia and checked in at the very reasonably priced Extended Stay America. They did have free Wifi. That's about all I needed. Then we drove in the next morning.

We stopped when we saw the Gateway Arch.

And I took the obligatory stadium shot.

We then went to Ballpark Village. I wasn't sure what it'd be, but heard good things about it. Ballpark Village, it turns out is a few restaurants/bars, one of which has a truly big screen to watch the World Cup. They did have a baseball field similar to what they have in San Diego and New York.

They had a Cardinals Hall of Fame exhibition. There was something similar in Kansas City and New York, but those were inside the ballpark and free. This was outside the park and cost $12. I passed on seeing it.

We went inside and the view from the outfield was very open.

As were the concourses. I liked the food choices and got a carved turkey sandwich. The sandwich was good, but I did struggle to find a beer that wasn't Anheuser Busch lager. I know what you're thinking. This is St. Louis. Anheuser Busch used to own the team and they're a major sponsor. Well, Anheuser Busch does have microbrews. They did feature Shock Top at the stadium, although they are mostly wheat beers. That's not my preference. I've seen Goose Island at stadiums like Comerica Park. Anheuser Busch is owned by InBev, which makes Leffe Brown. I ended up with a Guinness, not made by Anheuser Busch.

Then I went to my seat. Like Citizens Bank Park, they put home plate in a spot that gives a great view. In this case, it's the Gateway Arch. They also are clever for their outfield seats. Rather than block the view, they put them across the street in Ballpark Village. Thumbs up there.

My seat was even cushioned! The only other place I've had a cushioned seat was in Cincinnati and that was because I was sitting in super premium seats. Thanks again, Janet and Mike for that.

The game featured my beloved Phillies, only the second time I've seen them on this quest. Cody Ashe had a big early hit, driving in three runs.

Unfortunately, that's all the Phillies got. The results were like those in Chicago. The Phillies dropped this one 5-3.

Overall, Busch is one of my favorite ballparks. It's very fan friendly, although some of that fan friendliness is outside the stadium.

Game 17: June 21, 2014 Mariners at Royals

When you have to be in each city at a specific time, the game start to finish, you don’t end up with a lot of flexibility for a day game after a night game. So we had to catch a 7:20 AM Delta flight to Kansas City. It’d get us in very early. We didn’t find out until we got to the airport that the flight would be late because one of the crew wasn’t there. I have no idea if he overslept or if he was on another flight that was late. Considering it was a 7:20 flight, I’m guessing he overslept. Because this flight was operated by a Delta (non-union?) subsidiary I’m guessing they couldn’t just move over another crew member.

So we got to Kansas City close to an hour late and then caught a cab to Avis in North Kansas City where we picked up our car. Why did we not take public transportation to the game? Because there's no train in Kansas City to take and a bus would've taken forever. Why didn't we pick up a car at the airport? Maybe someone else knows why, but if we wanted to rent the car a car at the Kansas City airport the price was $334. The price renting one in North Kansas City was $178. So it was worth the $35 cab ride.

Even if Kansas City had light rail, I doubt it'd go to the stadium. While many of the modern stadiums are downtown, the Truman Sports Complex is on the edge of the city, practically in Independence. There is nothing anywhere near it. Any train would be an express only used on game days. It's also unusual because there's a baseball stadium next to the football stadium. I can only think of Philadelphia and Seattle being similar. We got a spot in front of Arrowhead.

People were tailgating in the parking lot. You see that all the time for football but rarely for baseball.

Obligatory stadium shot.

I haven't reviewed older stadiums well because they don't hold up. When the designers were making newer stadiums they saw the flaws in older stadiums and fixed them. Well, I liked Kaufman. It had a very wide open feel and I especially liked the fountains. Every stadium should have something unique and memorable about it, whether it's a swimming pool at Chase, a home run ringing bell at Citizens Bank, or a rock formation at Angel Stadium. Well, the fountains are unique and kind of cool. And they give the stadium a wide open aesthetic that I really like. I felt cramped at Target, Citi, Yankee, Safeco, and many of the other new stadiums.

Kaufman also had a Royals Hall of Fame museum, something I'd only seen at Citi Field. Citizens Bank and Progressive have a Hall of Fame monuments, but not a museum. That's a fun addition.

They even showed a movie about Kansas City baseball. It included the Monarchs, the A's, and the Royals. They went through the Royals history, including their three straight division championships in the 70's and their big breakthrough beating the Yankees in the ALCS in 1980. Strangely, they didn't include the 1980 World Series, which I would've enjoyed seeing. They then hit on the Royals 1984 division title and their 1985 trip to the World Series. They talked about how the Royals were down 3 games to 2 and then won game 6. There was absolutely no mention of Don Denkinger's infamous call at first base. Strangely, they make no mention of the Royals after Dick Howser left the team in 1987. It's as if the team ceased to exist. With two winning seasons since, maybe they have.

They had a kids' area like I saw at Citi Field and Petco. I didn't bring kids, but I always think a stadium is better with that. They even had mini golf.

The food selections weren't so great. Since I knew I was getting authentic Kansas City barbecue for dinner, I opted for a pizza. It wasn't much.

The game was a pitchers' dual, although being out in the sun on such a hot day was a bit much. We moved back a few rows where it was shady and cooler. Still, I enjoyed the view from our seats.

I liked the scoreboard. It was sufficiently large enough but didn't block the open space in the outfield. Sure, the view wasn't much, but it gave a good feel.

The game heated up in the ninth. Despite a late pitching change, the Mariners scored and won the game 2-1.

Game 16: June 20, 2014 White Sox at Twins

The trip started in a questionable manner. Delta had this really annoying flight attendant who must’ve reminded people 5 times within 15 minutes that we couldn’t leave until everyone was seated. Come on, lady. No one was lolly gagging around chatting. People were getting on as fast as they could. They were slowed down because Delta’s seating system is inefficient. And guess what? Everyone was seated five minutes early. Rude b*****.

My choice of hotels was spot on. It was a short ride on the Bloomington Hilton’s shuttle and then a short walk to the light rail. And the Minneapolis light rail was fast, clean, and dropped us off right in front of the stadium. Target Field is the second newest stadium and that’s about the only memorable thing about it. Brendan, who you might remember from games 4 and 5, also was disappointed in Target Field.

The beer selection was okay. They did have some local brews, although Minnesota isn’t exactly known for their beer.

And the concourse was well set up, with plenty of food choices. They were interesting. They had a Kosher grill and even had vegetarian and gluten free options.

I settled on the turkey. It was okay, but certainly not a great selection. And I did go with a local brew.

It was the stadium that left a lot to be desired. There was nothing interesting about it. Almost the whole outfield was taken up by stands, a scoreboard, and ads. There was a only a small area that was open and that showed the Target Center. Why build a downtown ballpark and not give people a view of downtown.

There was no kids' fun zone like in Citi and Camden Yards and elsewhere. There was no cool bar like at Yankee Stadium. They didn't have a mascot that went down a beer slide like Milwaukee. There was no Hall of Fame area like Cleveland. It didn't have the charm of Fenway. There just wasn't much there. The game was exciting though. The White Sox tied it in the top of the ninth, only to lose in the bottom of the frame on a walk off hit.

30 Stadium Schedule Update

Game 1: August 25, 2013, Red Sox at Dodgers, Dodger Stadium
Game 2: August 30, 2013, Angels at Brewers, Miller Park
Game 3: August 31, 2013, Phillies at Cubs, Wrigley Field
Game 4: September 1, 2013, Indians at Tigers, Comerica Park
Game 5: September 2, 2013, Orioles at Indians, Progressive Field
Game 6: September 3, 2013, Cardinals at Reds, Great American Ballpark
Game 7: September 7, 2013, Rockies at Padres, Petco Park

Game 8: Thursday, April 24, 2014, Yankees at Red Sox, Fenway Park
Game 9: Friday, April 25, 2014,, Royals at Orioles, Camden Yards
Game 10: Saturday, April 26, 2014, Padres at Nationals, Nationals Park
Game 11: Sunday, April 27, 2014, Marlins at Mets, Citi Field
Game 12: Sunday, April 27, 2014, Angels at Yankees, Yankee Stadium
Game 13: Saturday, May 24, 2014, Astros at Mariners, Safeco Field
Game 14: Sunday, May 25, 2014, Twins at Giants, AT&T Park
Game 15: Monday, May 26, 2014, Tigers at Athletics, O.co Coliseum

Game 16: Friday, June 20, 2014, White Sox at Twins, Target Fiel
Game 17: Saturday, June 21, 2014, Mariners at Royals, Kauffman Stadium
Game 18: Sunday, June 22, 2014, Phillies at Cardinals, Busch Stadium
Game 19: Game 19: Friday, July 11, 2014, Minnesota at Colorado, Coors Field
Game 20: Saturday, July 12, 2014, Angels at Texas, Globe Life Park
Game 21: Sunday, July 13, 2014, Boston at Houston, Minute Maid Park
Game 22: Tuesday, August 12, 2014, Philadelphia at LA Angels, Angel Stadium
Game 23: Saturday, August 30, 2014, Miami at Atlanta, Turner Field
Game 24: Sunday, August 31, 2014, Boston at Tampa Bay, Tropicana Field
Game 25: Monday, September 1, 2014, NY Mets at Miami, Marlins Park
Game 26: Saturday, September 27, 2014, Kansas City at White Sox, U.S. Cellular Field
Game 27: Sunday, September 28, 2014, St. Louis at Arizona, Chase Field

For 2015
PNC Park
Rogers Centre
Citizens Bank Park
National Baseball Hall of Fame

Stubhub Lessons Learned

Some of this will be reiterating earlier posts on Stubhub, but I figure it's good to have it all in one place. You've determined what game you want to go to, where you want to sit, and how many tickets you want. These are important.

The Home Team
You've got to learn about how the home team is priced on Stubhub. So the first thing to do is check out the team's website. Sounds counterintuitive, doesn't it? It's not. By going to the team website, you'll get an idea on how much the tickets cost through the team and what the availability is like. I discovered that the Rangers sell out everything in the lower part of the ballpark and the San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, and St. Louis Cardinals sell almost every ticket they have available. Very often tickets will be more expensive than those through the team as a result.

I also discovered that ticket prices for the Los Angeles Angels and Tampa Bay Rays were actually less on the team's website than on Stubhub. I don't know why, but I think people generally price tickets on Stubhub based on what others have priced them. So if people are selling $30 tickets for $40 they list them at that price. And if you think tickets are always cheaper on Stubhub, you'll buy the tickets for $40. If there aren't a lot of tickets on sale on Stubhub, they can go at inflated rates. When there are, however, that'll generally drive the price down.

The Los Angeles Dodgers sell a lot of tickets, but don't sell out. They seem to have a lot of tickets for sale on Stubhub and the tickets tend to go far below the team's price. One reason the prices on Stubhub's Rays' games might be so expensive is that there aren't many for sale. I also noticed that Dodger game ticket prices have a tendency to change daily. Tickets for other teams don't change as often.

If you're going on a Tuesday, look at the prices for the upcoming Tuesdays. Tickets to the game you want might eventually be in that range.

The Road Team and Promotions
If the road team is the Red Sox or Yankees, the prices aren't going to drop to what they'd be if the road team is the Twins or Mariners. If they're giving away a Harmon Killebrew bobble head, the game will be popular. If they're giving away an A.J. Ellis bobble head, it probably won't be as popular.

How Many Tickets Do You Want?
If it's 2 or 4 tickets, they should be plentiful. Of course people will also be buying the tickets. If you want 1 or 3 or some huge number like 8, you have a double edged sword. There won't be as many of them, so the prices could be higher. On the other hand, demand is lower. So if the tickets aren't selling, the prices could be lower.

Ticket Prices Might Drop as the Game Gets Closer
Sometimes people get desperate and realize their ticket isn't selling and drop the prices. A week before the Giants game, I decided I wanted to sit in the lower level, rather than the upper level. So I put my upper level ticket up on Stubhub just below what other single upper level seats were selling for. Three other people saw that and dropped their price. I dropped mine. They dropped theirs. I dropped mine again. By the time my ticket sold the price went down from $41 to $31. On the other hand, I've noticed that the prices don't drop for some games as the game gets closer. You can't count on this.

If You See a Good Price, Grab It If lower level tickets between the bases are selling for $75+ and someone puts up tickets for $55, or even $65, they are going to sell immediately. Every time I've seen this, the tickets have been gone within hours. And tickets at that price don't appear again. Jump on them immediately. One time when I didn't do this, I never saw tickets this inexpensive again. Two weeks later I saw tickets for a little lower then the prices that had been up there. I bought those. I didn't get as good a deal, but I checked subsequently and didn't see anywhere near the price I paid.