This weekend, you get to choose between the Final Four and MLB Opening Day /Home Openers. What a great weekend! In fact, we debated whether this weekend was the absolute best in sports. Is there a better one? Super Bowl weekend? NBA or MLB All-Star weekends? The start of March Madness? It’s a tough choice. Let us know what you think in the comments.

During Spring Training, we looked at MLB Opening Day ticket market prices so to channel our excitement on the eve of the 2011 MLB season, we thought it would interesting to compare MLB ticket prices this year versus the last year and 2009. We thought it would also be interesting to see which teams’ tickets are getting hotter and which fans were less excited about their teams prospects in 2011.

MLB Tickets Up in 2011… Sort of

We started with average ticket market prices across the league for every team for every home game. We compared tickets for the entire season as of today versus this time last year and this time in 2009. In aggregate, MLB ticket market prices are up in 2011 ($67) compared to 2010 ($64). But MLB ticket prices are still down compared to 2009 when baseball tickets averaged $74.

Phillies, Red Sox, Twins, Rays, Rangers, Mets and Yankees tickets are up pretty substantially over last year. The Rangers and Rays fan remain energized after last season’s deep post season runs. The defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants tickets are up slightly, but not like you might guess after winning the fall classic.

We can’t wait to see what the 2011 season holds.

See you at the ballpark.

With our first MLB summer blockbuster — MLB Opening Day in Boston where the Red Sox hosted their AL East rival Yankees and where tickets jumped up to $600 each on average — behind us… and the you-did-what?!?! home opener in Washington safely in the rear-view mirror, we can now focus on the rest of the MLB home openers.

The Twins with their brand new Target Field and the Yankees with their New York Yankee-ness are currently battling for hottest home opener ticket.

As we were having a look at the hottest MLB home opener tickets, it became clear that even with a ticket search engine like FanSnap, its not always clear for fans which game is their team’s home opener. So, the crack engineering staff put together a page of MLB home openers to make it easy.

Just bop over to http://www.fansnap.com/mlb-home-opener-tickets and scroll down until you see your team. We hope it helps.

Christian

Tickets to the 2009 Twins home opener against the Seattle Mariners in the HHH Metrodome averaged $75 – $100. This year, the Red Sox come to town to help christen Target Field. Twins home opener tickets this year average $358, or more than three times 2009 prices.

Excitement in Minnesota to see the Twins has exploded this year. The combination of the new stadium, the Cinderella run last year, and signing Joe Mauer to a long term deal has Minnesota fans excited about the prospect of good things ahead for the Twins.

Twins excitement is translating into ticket demand. The April 12 meeting of the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins at Target Field is currently the second hottest matchup in all of baseball for the 2010 MLB season. The Twins home opener trails only the MLB Opening Day matchup of the Red Sox and Yankees at Fenway Park as the hottest ticket in baseball.

Red Sox @ Twins Tickets

Average price = $358
Lowest price ticket = $190
- Lower level infield tickets from $275 to $3,850
- Upper level infield tickets from $212 to $825
- Outfield tickets from $236 to $550

FanSnap ticket search results, gleaned from searching dozens of ticket sites, include hundreds or in some cases thousands of tickets for each game. FanSnap ticket search engine can easily identify at a glance the ‘best value’ tickets – those that are priced substantially below the other available comparable tickets by 10%, 25%, even 50% less.

Fans searching all Minnesota Twins tickets will see FanSnap’s convenient up-to-the-moment summary table of the available best values at different price points. Current Best Value Tickets include:

- Dugout Box 16 tickets for $329, 48% less than the average price for comparable tickets.

- Home Plate Box 114 tickets for $345, 32% less than the average price for comparable tickets.

- Legends Club A tickets for $438, 61% less than the average price for comparable tickets.

World Series Tickets: Yankees win!

October 2009

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November 2009

generated by HTML Calendar Maker 1.1. Copyright (C) 2009 John Dalbey.

(ALCS Update) Yankees beat the Angels in Game 6 and take the series 4-2. It’s World Series time! Game 1 is on Wednesday.

The Phillies have done it. They beat the Dodgers and crushed SoCal fans’ hopes for a freeway series. With the win tonight over the Dodgers, the Phils are once again in the Fall Classic. They await an opponent. Will it be the Yankees or the Angels? The Yankees are up 3-1 over the Angels. For Yankees fans, the memory of the 2004 ALCS against the Red Sox is still too fresh in their minds to be overly confident of a World Series berth.

So, the Phillies celebrate and wait at least one more night to learn where they’ll travel to on Wednesday for Game 1 of the World Series. You can bet, we’ll be watching the Angels – Yankees game.

We’ve add the Phillies World Series home games to the calendar below with links to tickets for each game.

Christian

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There is some debate at FanSnap HQ as to whether this is our favorite time of year… Or, is it a very close second to March when every team is still in the hunt. Oh, and that other tournament is getting started.

The verdict? Now is pretty great. The Rockies made us (and the Dodgers) sweat the final few games of the regular season and the Twins had us biting a towel like Jerry Tarkanian during that Tigers one-game playoff. Now, we’re trying to squeeze in a little work between watching playoff games.

Here are the playoffs in one, handy calendar. Down below, you know we’re keeping track of ticket availability and ticket prices as well as wins and losses.

Championship Series Tickets:

(Update) Once again, It’s CC and A-Rod as the Yankees take Game 4

(Update) Angels take ALCS Game 3 in 11 innings. Phillies take Game 4 with a walk off.

(Update) Just when we think we see what clutch playoff pitching is in CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee blanks Dodgers in 11-0 Phillies Game 3 win.

(Update) Yankees win in 13 innings (and 5 hours). Lead series 2-0. The Angels and Yankee travel to LA for Game 3.

(Update) The MLB Championship series teams are set. The Yankees take on the Angels and the Phillies take on the Dodgers. “Sold out” of course never really means sold out. There are tens of thousands of tickets listed in the ticket market for the ALCS and NLCS. We dug into the data and came up with the chart below, which compares the first home game tickets for each of the teams to get a feel for the hottest MLB playoff team.

Ticket prices as of 2:00 p.m. (PT) Oct. 13, 2009. This chart compares ticket prices to the NLCS and ALCS home games for the Yankees, Angels, Phillies and Dodgers

National League Championship Series:

PHILADELPHIA vs LOS ANGELES

Phillies win series (4-1)

NLCS Game 1 tickets: Phillies at Los Angeles Dodgers Dodger Stadium
Phillies win

NLCS Game 2 tickets: Phillies at Los Angeles Dodgers Dodger Stadium
Dodgers win

NLCS Game 3 Tickets: Dodgers at Philadelphia Phillies Citizens Bank Park
Phillies win

NLCS Game 4 Tickets: Dodgers at Philadelphia Phillies Citizens Bank Park
Phillies win

NLCS Game 5 Tickets: Dodgers at Philadelphia Phillies Citizens Bank Park
Phillies win

American League Championship Series:

NEW YORK vs LOS ANGELES

Yankees win series (4-2)

ALCS Game 1 tickets: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at New York Yankees
Yankees win

ALCS Game 2 tickets: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at New York Yankees
Yankees win

ALCS Game 3 tickets: New York Yankees at Los Angeles Angels
Angels win

ALCS Game 4 tickets: New York Yankees at Los Angeles Angels
Yankees win

ALCS Game 5 tickets: New York Yankees at Los Angeles Angels
Angels win

ALCS Game 6 tickets: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at New York Yankees
Yankee win

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Division Series Tickets:

(Update: Oct. 12) The Phillies clinch NLCS berth after winning the NLDS series against the Rockies 3 to 1.

(Update: Oct. 11) The Dodgers are the first team to clinch a Championship Series berth after sweeping the Cards in three games in the NLDS. The NLCS tickets and calendar updated below.

(Update 2: Oct. 11) The Yankees and Angels sweep the Twins and Red Sox. Boston’s hopes for the Yankee – Red Sox showdown in the ALCS came to an end today. The Yankees – Red Sox is one of the most storied rivalries in all of sports. We’re sorry we didn’t get to see it play out in one last series this year.

The Twins’ Cinderella story also came to an end today. The Twins embodied so much of what we love about the post season. Their run was a thrill to watch. We look forward to seeing them in their new ballpark next year.

Two MLB powerhouses remain. The Yankees and the Angels — two teams that seemed destined to meet in the ALCS. We’ve reworked the playoff calendar below to reflect the ALCS dates and of course, ticket availability and pricing.

ALDS: NEW YORK vs MINNESOTA

Yankees Sweep Twins: 3-0

ALDS: Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees – Home Game #1 (Game #1)
Yankees 7, Twins 2

ALDS Tickets: Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees – Home Game #2 (Game #2)
Yankees 4, Twins 3

ALDS Tickets: New York Yankees at Minnesota Twins – Home Game #1 (Game #3)
Yankees 4, Twins 1

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ALDS: LOS ANGELES vs BOSTON

Angels sweep Red Sox: 3-0

AL Division Series: Boston Red Sox at Los Angeles Angels – Home Game #1 (Game #1)
Angels 5, Red Sox 0

ALDS Tickets: Boston Red Sox at Los Angeles Angels – Home Game #2 (Game #2)
Angels 4, Red Sox 1

ALDS Tickets: Los Angeles Angels at Boston Red Sox – Home Game #1 (Game #3)
Angels 7, Red Sox 6

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NLDS: PHILADELPHIA vs COLORADO

Phillies Beat the Rockies: 3-1

NLDS Tickets: Philadelphia Phillies at Colorado Rockies – Home Game #1 (Game #1)
Phillies 5, Rockies 1

NLDS Tickets: Philadelphia Phillies at Colorado Rockies – Home Game #1 (Game #2)
Rockies 5, Phillies 4

NLDS Tickets: Philadelphia Phillies at Colorado Rockies – Home Game #1 (Game #3)
Phillies 6, Rockies 5

NLDS Tickets: Philadelphia Phillies at Colorado Rockies – Home Game #2 (Game #4)
Phillies 5, Rockies 4

NLDS: ST LOUIS vs LOS ANGELES

Dodgers sweep Cards, 3-0

NLDS Tickets: St Louis Cardinals at Los Angeles Dodgers – Home Game #1 (Game #1)
Dodgers 5, Cardinals 3

NLDS Tickets: St Louis Cardinals at Los Angeles Dodgers – Home Game #2 (Game #2)
Dodgers 3, Cardinals 2

NLDS Tickets: Los Angeles Dodgers at St Louis Cardinals – Home Game #1 (Game #3)
Cardinals 1, Dodgers 5

In the midst of a smoking hot AL Central pennant race, the Detroit Tigers hold a four game lead over the Minnesota Twins.  These two teams play head-to-head seven times in the next ten days.  HUGE!  The surprise?  Twins and Tigers fans can see these games for as little as $4!

Want to sit behind home plate?  At this moment, there are $40 tickets available in Minneapolis and $63 tickets available in Detroit.  Unbelievable.

As in all markets, prices in the ticket market are set by the balance of supply and demand.  There are lots of tickets available for these important games, so local baseball fans get a great experience at an amazing bargain.