Below are some of the better money-saving tips for enjoying America\u2019s pastime on a budget.<\/p>\n
Take Advantage of Team Ticket Offers<\/p>\n
Ticket deals\u00a0are your biggest opportunity for savings on live baseball. My favorite tip for saving money on tickets is this: sign up for team email ticket alerts<\/a>. (You will need an account on MLB.com<\/a>). Every baseball team offers ticket deals, especially when they aren\u2019t enjoying great success on the field.<\/p>\n The Yankees, for example\u2026a team you wouldn\u2019t expect to make games affordable for fans\u2026actually offer some very nice discounts. As this sentence was written, you can find $10 seats, half-price deals for MasterCard holders, and up to 80% discounts on single seats for games. There\u2019s also ticket discounts for military members, teachers and seniors.<\/p>\n Every team will make you aware of specials they\u2019re offering in their email alerts. Beyond that, they\u2019ll tell you about giveaway nights too, where you can score souvenirs, T-shirts, or kids\u2019 activities without shelling out extra cash.<\/p>\n That said, buying tickets through the team isn\u2019t always the cheapest route. There are third party ticket re-sellers too, like Gametime, SeatGeek, and StubHub among many others. It\u2019s a great opportunity to find deals\u2026if you play it right.<\/p>\n Shop Around \u2013 And Be Flexible<\/p>\n The more flexibility you have for which game to attend, the better your opportunities to find cheaper tickets, especially through third parties. Baseball ticket prices vary greatly by time of year, day of the week, and the team\u2019s opponent.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll use Fenway Park and the Boston Red Sox as an example. A Saturday night game in July against the rival Yankees is going to cost far\u00a0more than an Wednesday day game in April against the Athletics. That\u2019s probably common sense, but the point is to choose something that is low demand.<\/p>\n June, July and August games are the most popular for most teams, while April is usually the easiest time to find cheaper tickets. In April, the kids are still in school, the weather can still be chilly, and teams aren\u2019t usually generating excitement with their performance yet.<\/p>\n Low Demand Cubs Game, Photo by Kurt Smith, Stadium Journey<\/p>\n Weekday games are less expensive than weekends, and games against popular rivals, especially teams that aren\u2019t far away, will draw more fans. If a team is out of the playoff hunt by September, \u00a0you can often find great deals on third party sites.<\/p>\n Timing matters, too. If it\u2019s not vital to see the game you want, try waiting until the last minute. It\u2019s very possible that ticket prices will drop precipitously as fans get desperate to unload their unusable tickets. With today\u2019s smartphones, you can be right at the gate of the ballpark when you buy. If you see something you can live with, though, don\u2019t hesitate; jump on it right away.<\/p>\n Finally, use the weather! If a blazing hot or excessively frigid day portends a less pleasant experience, you can sometimes find a deal. There\u2018re\u00a0always ways to escape the elements during a game if you need to.<\/p>\n Getting To The Game Cheaply<\/p>\n Parking can sneak up on your budget, especially if you just show up without a reservation. Don\u2019t do that, plan ahead. With a little research, you can cut this cost way down. Apps like SpotHero (my favorite) and ParkWhiz let you book in advance and save quite a bit of dough.<\/p>\n If the ballpark is in a residential neighborhood or in the heart of the city, there will likely be plenty of parking options. People even sell their driveway spots. Recently I parked in a driveway about a five minute walk from Wrigley Field for $16 \u2013 which, for that distance, would cost around $50 in an official Cubs lot.<\/p>\n Incidentally, at Wrigley you can even do better than that. The Cubs offer free parking at a remote lot for night games, from which you can hop on their free\u00a0shuttle service. So it doesn\u2019t hurt to check and see if teams offer such deals.<\/p>\n You also don\u2019t have to drive and sit in gas-guzzling traffic to get to most ballparks. There are almost always one or more money-saving public transit options, especially if a ballpark is in the heart of the city.<\/p>\n Take the Train to Yankee Stadium, Photo by Kurt Smith, Stadium Journey<\/p>\n Baltimore\u2019s light rail is a great example. You can park in one of a number of lots for free outside the city, and hop on a streetcar that will drop you off right at the warehouse entrance of Camden Yards. The ride is just $4 round trip as I write this.<\/p>\n One more tip for parking savings \u2013 in some cities, there are a few taverns and restaurants that will let you park there for free, and take you to the game in their shuttle if you order a meal or a drink there. Try doing a search for \u201c shuttles\u201d and see what comes up.<\/p>\n Save On Food And Drinks \u2013 Bring Your Own<\/p>\n It\u2019s less of a secret these days, but most all MLB teams will allow you to bring your own food and drinks into the ballpark.<\/p>\n There are limits of course. You can\u2019t bring in alcohol (anyone familiar with Ten Cent Beer Night in Cleveland knows that wouldn\u2019t end well), in some ballparks you\u2019re only allowed one bottle of water for a drink, and bottles must be plastic and sealed. Each team has different rules; you can do a search for \u201c bag policy\u201d and usually find what they won\u2019t let you do.<\/p>\n Bringing your own, as you can imagine, is a huge\u00a0money-saver over ballpark food prices. There will often be vendors outside selling soft pretzels, peanuts, drinks etc., but even that will cost significantly more than a short trip to the supermarket before the game.<\/p>\n But if you like to get at least something\u00a0at the game\u2026like a hot dog\u2026go for the \u201cgeneric\u201d stands that just sell the basics, as opposed to the fancy offerings. You can often find a meal deal, but if not, they\u2019re still the places for the cheapest food items like basic hot dogs.<\/p>\n Fenway’s Budget Frank, Photo by Kurt Smith, Stadium Journey<\/p>\n No one loves a beer at the game more than I do, but you can save mucho dinero avoiding alcoholic drinks inside the ballpark. Not only are the prices of drinks highly inflated, many teams offer a \u201cdesignated driver\u201d program, where they\u2019ll give you a free soda for promising not to imbibe.<\/p>\n Getting The Extras At A Discount<\/p>\n It\u2019s always fun to see the jerseys, tees, mugs, pennants and other team logo-adorned stuff in the ballpark\u2019s team store, but you\u2019ll pay top dollar for most anything there.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re liking that official team jersey, try this: go to MLBShop.com<\/a>\u00a0on your phone and look for it. See if the price is the same there or less. It might be the same, but the website could offer a discount code or some other deal. There\u2019s also eBay, if you don\u2019t mind that someone wore it once.<\/p>\n At many ballparks, there will often be vendors and even stores selling team-related items cheaper than inside. Remember: outside vendors are often prone to haggling! When they tell you the price of a cap, offer to buy a second one at half price. After the game especially, these folks may be desperate to unload their extra stuff.<\/p>\n Souvenirs Outside PNC Park, Photo by Kurt Smith, Stadium Journey<\/p>\n Yankee Stadium is my favorite example of this; there are not only vendors everywhere, but also several stores right there with tons of great stuff for fans. \u00a0But wherever you are, if you have time, wander around a bit after the game.<\/p>\n Saving Money on MLB Games – It\u2019s All About Planning + Knowing<\/p>\n Hopefully this piece helps you enjoy live baseball for much less than you expect. It just takes some planning, timing, and maybe a little patience. When it comes to baseball tickets, transportation, food, and souvenirs, take advantage of the one tool that our grandparents didn\u2019t have\u2026the Internet.<\/p>\n Because when it comes to enjoying live baseball, a little research goes a long way.<\/p>\n Kurt Smith is the author of Ballpark E-Guides, the ultimate website for making the most of your game experience at 18 MLB ballparks, including Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium. You can find many more great ballpark tips at his website: https:\/\/ballparkeguides.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No baseball fan needs to be told about the cost of seeing live baseball. According to Action Network,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":888513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-888512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Low](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ca8cc2_2280beda38c7454098aa2639946cfa9d~mv2.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n![\"Souvenirs](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ca8cc2_38d49ec3d5834f3883e65d449ea46ff1~mv2.jpg\")
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