For tickets to any of these games in Fenway, click here.

As the Tampa Bay Rays march toward the best record in baseball and their second post-season appearance, fans have not followed them through he gates. The first-place Rays rank 22nd is attendance, ahead of only cellar-dwellers like the Nationals, Orioles, Indians and Pirates. After only 12,000 people showed up for a potential playoff clincher last week, David Price and Evan Longoria, the faces of the franchise, publically expressed their frustration.
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Starring down a PR nightmare, the Rays responded quickly by announcing that they would offer 20,000 free tickets to last night’s game against the Orioles. The move was unprecedented for a contending team, but it seemed to work as the entire allotment was exhausted 45 minutes before the first pitch and attendance for the game was 36,973–a sell-out, if you can call it that.
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While the move has to be called a success, you’d expect that sellers trying to move tickets for actual money were less than thrilled. Just a week ago, tickets for the game were going for $72 across the secondary market. As the Longoria and Price comments picked up media steam, the price declined steadily, to $55 the day before the free-ticket announcement. After the announcement, prices dropped another 27% and settled at $30, 60% off the $72 high.
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While such poor attendance for a championship caliber team is puzzling, the demand curve for small-market sports teams has always been somewhat fickle. Even more puzzling, though, is why prices didn’t drop to $0, or close to it, the day the giveaway was announced. Come game time, though, every seat was filled. Maybe sellers who held out on dropping prices to zero thought that, contrary to conventional economic wisdom, 20,000 free tickets would actually create demand–maybe just enough for fans to pay them actual money to see the best team in baseball.
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For Rays ALDS tickets, click here.

For tickets to each of these games, click on the links below:

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9/2 vs. Oakland — 9/3 vs. Toronto — 9/4 vs. Toronto — 9/5 vs. Toronto – 9/6 vs. Baltimore — 9/8 vs. Baltimore

Tonight, Johnny Damon makes his first trip back to Yankee Stadium since winning the ‘09 World Series and then moving on to the Tigers.
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This got us at TiqIQ thinking about the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry and if Damon’s visit would impact ticket prices in New York as much as it did in Boston.
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As you can see to the left, the Red Sox clearly won this one. Not only did Red Sox Nation fork over 144% more than Yankees fans to see Damon and the Tigers, but fans in the Bronx appear mostly disinterested in this series, and are paying 35% below their $110 season avg. Maybe Sox fans wanted to welcome their self-proclaimed Idiot back to Fenway in something other than a Yankees uniform.
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For tickets to any of the games of the Yankees-Tigers series, click here.

As a Red Sox, Manny Ramirez logged over 1,000 games ‘just being Manny’.  Along the way, he also helped deliver two World Series rings and many memorable, as well as a few forgettable, moments. Now, three and a half years later, Manny’s back under the Monster, parking his dreads beneath Dodgers Blue, and keeping us waiting, once again, for a signature moment.

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At TiqIQ, we can’t wait to see what Being Manny means this weekend. Sox fans apparently feel the same way, with tickets for the series going for 40% more than the season average.

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Of the three games, Sunday looks like the best deal.  However, showers are in the forecast, which may be pushing down prices a bit.
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Given that the Dodgers are only back East once more all year, though, everyone will want to get the game played.  That could spell a long start-and-stop afternoon that stretches into night; the kind of game that leaves a bit too much time for beer drinking, not getting ready for Monday morning, and waiting to see what Manny does next.  Sounds like a wait Sox fans might enjoy.

For the first time since last November, the Yankees and Phillies will square off in a World Series rematch at Yankee Stadium. Here’s are the pitching matchups:
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- Game 1: CC Sabathia vs. Roy Hallday
- Game 2: A.J. Burnett vs. Jamie Moyer
- Game 3: Andy Pettitte vs. Kyle Kendrick
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On top of three pretty good matchups, highlighted by the CC-Halladay opener, the weather reports should be beautiful, and these are two of the most popular teams in baseball. Last year, this was one of the most sought after and expensive series of the season for the Yankees, but this year things are a very different:
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With tickets to the Subway Series later this weekend in the Bronx selling for an average of $170 bucks, spending $80 less to see Halladay start against CC in his first post-Jays visit to YS, could be the deal of the season.

On the heels of the Red Sox first visit to the Bronx, the Rays series was arguably the biggest early-season test for the defending World Series Champs. However, to Yankees fans, this was just another series, as the paid below the season average to see the battle for first place, and almost half of what they paid to see the Sox.

New Yorker’s have always known how to drive a bargain, however, in this case it appears that they were more interested in a flashy label than quality baseball. On the other hand, given how the Rays handled the Yanks, maybe the smart money was paying to see a game where the Bombers had the best chance to win.
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For all Yankees tickets, click here.

While opening day, with all its ritualized rites of spring and untainted hopes of postseason glory, is undeniably special, is it really worth paying a 104% premium for a what is otherwise a meaningless game in April? Yankees fans apparently thought so, paying a hefty premium compared to other games in the series to see the Bombers get their 27th ring.
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If you’re more interested in a deal than expensive memories, check out TiqIQ’s list of top 10 most affordable Yankee’s games this season.
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For a list of the top ten games of the year, click here.