Baseball

[Gary Lewis]

Hey everyone....

I'm Gary from England. Discovered this site a few years ago whilst planning a trip to NYC, December 2006. You guys saved me a wedge back then by helping me book the Hudson Hyatt via Hotwire for an absurdly cheap price! We had such a fantastic time, that we're coming over again next year between 28th May and 2nd June. I hope to be lucky enough to get another great deal via Hotwire for the Hudson Hyatt closer to the time, and of course, I'll be using the links from this site to make my booking.

The reason for this particular post however.... is baseball. During our last visit we managed to get some tickets to see the Knicks at Madison Square Garden (the game where everyone got sent off!)... we had a great night! Anyway... this time I'd love to see some baseball. My first choice would have been to see the Yankees (they seem to be the best known baseball team over here in the UK, sorry if that's offended anyone), but unfortunately they seem to be playing away games during our stay. So, I also read that New York has another baseball team called the Mets that do appear to be playing home games during our stay. Again, not wishing to offend anyone, but are they worth going to see? What I mean is.... are they at the highest level of baseball (like a premierhsip football team would be in England). If so, could anyone advise the best way to secure tickets at reasonable prices? What would be fair price to pay do you think? I'm not looking for the best seats in the house, but I also don't want to be seated where I can't see what's going on. Also, if anyone reading this is really into baseball and knows who the Mets are playing during the period of my stay, I'd really appreicate your advice as to which game is likely to provide the best spectacle, as it were?

Thanks everyone.

Gary

[thereuare]

The Mets are "legit" major league baseball. How they perform this year is a crapshoot, but last year they choked near the the end of the season and just missed post-season play (i don't recall exactly, but they needed to win something like 2 of their last 7 games and didn't make it) The Yankees have had more success over the years and therefore a bigger fan base and more known around the world, but nothing wrong with a Mets game (who also have their own diehard fans)

You can see the complete schedule and buy tickets thru their website: Official Mets Website

Note that "StubHub" is a re-seller to tickets and depending upon the game may be at higher/lower cost than face value (although this early i suspect anything for sale would be at face value and above)... but they have a "print at home option" which i believe is buying directly from the stadium.

[dahammer]

The Mets biggest choke occured in 2007, they had a 7 game lead with only 16 games left to play in the season and still lost to the Phillies. According to Sports Illustrated: "The Mets' 99.80 percent chance to reach the playoffs was the second-highest figure ever by a team that failed to do so." Ouch!

because of your dates you'll have to settle for the Mets, but a mere 90 miles away the 2008 World Champion Phillies are Home for your travel dates in the City of Brotherly Love :). But since you probably don't want to spend two and a half hours travelling to Philly, you'll do fine with the Mets.

For your dates of travel, the Mets will face the Nats and the Fish, namely Washington Nationals and Florida Marlins. Ticket prices can vary from about $20 to $500 depending on seat location. For example, seats between home plate and third base in the upper levels can be had for around $35 each. But if you want to be 10 rows behind third base, this seat will run almost $300 each.....somebody has to pay for the $850 Million stadium and the Mets $140 Million payroll. I would not recommend sitting in the outfield as you can lose a little perspective of the game. Saturday and Sunday games start at 1:10 pm and weekday games start around 7:10 pm, so these games will finish under the lights.

I can also recommend using Stub Hub since they are sanctioned by Major League Baseball as a secondary ticket provider and you can print your tickets at home to avoid the FedEx charges. I have bought tickets on Ebay, but there is an element of risk that you may not want to incur. The Mets will be playing in a new stadium in 2009 as well. Spring Training begins on February 14..... :)