Wanna see a Mariners playoff game? Of course you do.
Maybe fly to Houston?
Wanna see a Mariners playoff game IN SEATTLE? That could be a stickier wicket.
Two decades of mediocrity and hope, drudgery and longing have brought an outpouring of joy and enthusiasm for the Seattle Mariners.
It’s also brought demand. Demand is high for Saturday’s Game 3 of the American League Divisional Series, the Mariners’ first home playoff game in 21 years. Demand has been much lower for the first two games in Houston, where the Astros are in the playoffs for the sixth straight season and the seventh time in eight years.
As of noon Tuesday, before the start of the opening game, it was cheaper to fly to Houston and buy a ticket for Thursday’s Game 2, than it was to get into T-Mobile Park for Saturday’s Game 3. (Some caveats apply here: At these prices you can’t afford a direct flight, or even a flight back on the weekend, so you’ll have to stay in Houston until Monday.)
If absence makes the heart grow fonder, boy are Mariners fans’ hearts fond right now.
Houston has played 47 home playoff games since the Mariners last played one. Houston, which moved to the American League a decade ago, has played 12 home playoff games as a National League team since the Mariners last played a home playoff game.
For the Astros, this is old hat. And the ticket prices reflect that.
Tickets to Tuesday’s Game 1 of the ALDS in Houston were a whopping 28 times cheaper than tickets to Saturday’s home playoff opener in Seattle.
The math (ticket prices come from StubHub, include fees and are as of noon Tuesday):
Game 1, Houston: Cheapest available tickets, $14.
Game 2, Houston: Cheapest available, $40.
Game 3, Seattle: Cheapest available, $402.
And that flight to Houston? Leave SeaTac on Wednesday morning, flying on discount carrier Frontier Airlines, lay over in Las Vegas (hey, maybe you could win some money and afford somewhere to stay while you’re in Houston), arrive in Houston Wednesday night. Fly back on Monday, lay over again in Las Vegas, this time for 10 hours, arrive home Tuesday morning — $335 round trip. Add in that $40 ticket to Game 2, and you’ve still got $27 to spend on beer and hot dogs in Houston before you surpass your Game 3 Seattle budget.
Is there a way to see Saturday’s Game 3, the first playoff game in Seattle in 7,667 days, without breaking the bank? Maybe.
The Mariners are playing coy.
Tickets mostly sold out in September, soon after they went on sale (and before it was clear there would even be home playoff games).
But maybe they didn’t totally sell out?
“A limited number of additional seats,” for both home games this weekend “may become available at a later date,” Mariners spokesperson Sarah Alamshaw wrote.
Alamshaw said to go to Mariners.com/postseason and click on “buy tickets” to check if tickets have become available.
Maybe also cross your fingers?