High Ticket Prices as Giants Host Dodgers For Early Season Iteration of NL West Rivalry

It’s an “even” year in Major League Baseball, which tends to signal success as it concerns the San Francisco Giants these days. So far in 2016, it appears that sentiment will ring true once again after the Giants took their season-opening series in Milwaukee to begin the new campaign.

Despite missing the playoffs last year, San Francisco still posted a respectable season in which they finished 84-78, and looking up and down the roster, this looks like a team ready to contend again and get back to the playoffs. They already possess a few very proven players in Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner, and Hunter Pence, who rank in the upper echelon of their respective positions. The youth on this club is really what could put them over the top, featuring the likes of Brandon Belt, Joe Panik, Matt Duffy and Brandon Crawford. Plus, they upgraded the rotation by adding Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, so the Giants could be in a position to win the World Series in the fourth straight “even” year.

Let’s take a look at their first series at home this season coming up this weekend and the value of tickets. Clearly, the Giants perform well in the secondary market, perhaps due to being one of the league’s more storied franchises, and it’s translating in their first matchup at AT&T Park, opposite an old familiar rival.

4/7/16 Dodgers at Giants | AT&T Park | Avg. Ticket Price: $235.34 | Get-in: $98

4/8/16 Dodgers at Giants | AT&T Park | Avg. Ticket Price: $134.37 | Get-in: $60

4/9/16 Dodgers at Giants | AT&T Park | Avg. Ticket Price: $157.67 | Get-in: $62

4/10/16 Dodgers at Giants | AT&T Park | Avg. Ticket Price: $137.14 | Get-in: $56

Unsurprisingly, these are some of the most expensive SF Giants tickets that can be found all season long. It makes sense, too, as the Dodgers stand as their No. 1 rival, and this is the first meeting in 2016 between the two top NL West contenders.

Like the Giants, Los Angeles appears built for a playoff run, having a nice core of talent on both sides of the ball. They have Clayton Kershaw, arguably the best ace in all of baseball, as well as Adrian Gonzalez, who is as steady as they come over at first base. The two behemoths have collided for division supremacy pretty much every year in the recent past, and a struggle for the NL West this season seems inevitable.

Although ticket prices are exceptionally high, fans can at least save a considerable amount on their travel by going with Hipmunk.com. They have cheap San Francisco flights for out-of-town fans looking to catch the Giants in their first home series of what could be another pennant-filled campaign. In addition, there are also affordable San Francisco hotel rooms courtesy of Hipmunk, starting as low as $63 for fans who want to make it a lengthy baseball getaway to kick off the new year.