How Much is that Cleveland Indians ALCS Ticket Going to Cost You?

CLEVELAND, OH - What a time to be alive.

The Cleveland Indians swept the Boston Red Sox, ruining David 'Big Papi' Ortiz's final playoff run, and now have home field advantage through the rest of the playoffs. Their next opponent is the Toronto Blue Jays and you want to be there to cheer them on. One question: How much is that ticket going to cost you?

Ticket seller Vivid Seats crunched the numbers and found that the 'get-in' price for Game 1 is $128. The median ticket price for the game is $222. Game 2 will have a cheaper get-in price, with those tickets costing about $119. The median ticket price for Game 2 is $235.

If you're a Tribe fan in Toronto, or just a fan that's lucky enough to travel with the team, ticket prices will jump a bit. Game 3's get-in tickets are going to cost $123, but the median ticket price is $280. Game 4's get-in tickets are $119, the median ticket price is $288.

Then there's the If Necessary games:

• Game 5, Toronto, tickets
• Get-in price: $123
• Median price: $303
• Game 6, Cleveland, tickets
• Get-in price: $139
• Median price: $295
• Game 7, Cleveland, tickets
• Get-in price: $155
• Median price: $312

The ALCS ticket prices compare favorably to NLDS ticket costs. For example, if the Chicago Cubs-San Francisco Giants series needs five games to decide a victor, fans in Chi-town could be paying $180 just to get-in, or shelling out $456 for a median priced ticket.

While Red Sox fans are undoubtedly mourning Ortiz's retirement, their pocket books will look a little healthier without more October baseball. Boston was predicted to have the highest average ticket price in the AL in each of the playoff rounds. Only the Chicago Cubs had higher average ticket prices.

For the Tribe, if they should play their way into the Fall Classic, fans will be looking at an average ticket price of about $500. Of all playoff teams, that's the fifth lowest predicted average World Series ticket cost. If the Cubs make the World Series, fans may have to re-mortgage their house to snag a ticket, with Vivid Seats predicting that the average ticket will cost north of $1,000.

MLB Playoff Ticket Price Predictions by the Team at Vivid Seats

Before you start shelling out your hard-earned cash, make sure you're buying a genuine ticket to the game. Attorney General Mike DeWine offered consumers a host of tips to avoid getting duped this fall.

“Con artists will go to great lengths to make you believe what they’re trying to sell you,” Attorney General DeWine said. “They’ll make up excuses for why they have extra tickets to a game. They’ll send you detailed information or pictures of the tickets. But once they get your money, they disappear. We warn people that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

To avoid ticket scams, consumers should take steps to protect themselves, such as:

• Buy from reputable sellers. Deal with reputable businesses instead of third-party individuals who are not associated with an event. Before providing any payment or personal information, research a seller’s reputation. Check the return policy, and find out what would happen if the event is cancelled. If you’re trying to buy tickets from an individual, be especially cautious. Conduct an online search using the seller’s name, username, email address, or phone number along with words like “reviews,” “scam,” “fake tickets,” or “counterfeit tickets.” Even if you find no complaints, don’t assume the seller is reputable. Some con artists use fake names or bogus contact information.
• Check the venue’s ticket policies. Find out how tickets are being sold and what kind of tickets will be accepted at the event. Increasingly, a number of venues and events primarily use electronic tickets. However, if you’re trying to buy a paper ticket, take steps to make sure it’s real. Inspect both sides of the ticket, and be aware that some ticket scammers create counterfeit tickets that look legitimate even though they are not.
• Be skeptical of offers that are too good to be true. Sellers on Craigslist or other sites may offer tickets at face value (or below) for events that are sold out or highly in demand, but the offers may be scams. Some scammers also provide phony explanations for why they need to sell tickets quickly for a good price. For example, they may falsely claim to have a family emergency or to be in the military.
• Consider paying with a credit card. If a problem arises, you generally have greater ability to dispute credit card charges versus other forms of payment. Be skeptical of sellers who say you must pay via wire transfer, prepaid money card, or gift card. These are preferred payment methods for scam artists, because once payment is provided, it is very difficult to recover.
• Report suspected scams. If you think you’ve sent money to a scam artist, immediately contact the payment system you used. For example if you wired the money, contact the wire-transfer company. (In rare cases, payment can be stopped before it’s picked up in a scam.) Also flag suspicious posts online. Suspicious Craigslist ads can be reported to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office directly from Craigslist.

Photo from Rick Uldricks, Patch