How much will it cost to attend a Dodgers-Braves NLCS game in person?
You couldn't see the Dodgers play at Dodger Stadium this season, but you can see them play Monday if you're willing to spend a few hundred bucks and travel to Texas.
For the first time in this pandemic season, Major League Baseball is opening a ballpark to fans. The league has made 11,500 tickets available for the World Series and National League Championship Series, both at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
On Thursday, the Dodgers clinched a spot in the NLCS, against the Atlanta Braves. The best-of-seven series starts Monday.
On Friday morning, a limited number of $70 face-value tickets for Games 2 and 3 of the NLCS were available via the Texas Rangers' website. Game 1 tickets were sold out there, but StubHub resale tickets started at $89.
Under MLB health and safety protocols, tickets are only sold in groups of four, with each group at least six feet apart from others. The $89 StubHub tickets, including fees, would cost $448 for a group of four.
World Series tickets are sold out via the Rangers' website. The lowest Game 1 ticket available via StubHub Friday morning cost $394 — again, sold only in a group of four, with fees bringing the cost to $2,070.
Joc knocks
There was some question whether outfielder Joc Pederson, who left the team on paternity leave late in the season and again when he was placed on the family medical emergency list, would be available after the wild card round.
He hit .190 with a .681 on-base-plus-slugging percentage this season, both career lows, and he did not start in the Oct. 1 wild card clincher over the Milwaukee Brewers despite having four hits, including two homers, in five at-bats against starter Brandon Woodruff.
But the left-handed-hitting Pederson made the division series roster and made a case for more playing time with a two-hit game Thursday. Pederson went the other way with a full-count fastball from Craig Stammen in the third inning, lining a two-run single, and he hit a hard grounder off the glove of diving first baseman Eric Hosmer for a single in the fifth.
“I was excited to see Joc get a couple of knocks against Stammen,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Three-two sinker down below, to stay on it, go to the opposite gap, that’s something he hadn’t done in a while — it was good to see. He had another infield hit, so I know his confidence is continuing to grow."
Waiting game
Tony Gonsolin
Gonsolin, who went 2-2 with a 2.31 ERA in nine games this season, has not pitched since Sept. 26, when the right-hander allowed four earned runs and seven hits in six innings of a 7-6 win over the Angels.
Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler and left-hander Clayton Kershaw are expected to start the first two games of the NLCS. If Gonsolin starts Game 3, he’ll have gone 18 days between games.
“It was a shorter series, we won in three games, so we didn’t get to use everyone, Tony being one of them,” Roberts said of the NLDS sweep. “Tony feels great. When you’re talking about seven games in a row, you’re certainly going to need more length out of your starters.”
These fans have drive
The Dodgers are inviting fans to watch the NLCS at Dodger Stadium — from inside their cars.
The team announced Friday afternoon that it would host a drive-in watch party for each NLCS game in two stadium parking lots. Tickets, priced at $75 per car, go on sale at 7 p.m. Friday night.
No concessions will be available, but fans can bring food and non-alcoholic beverages. Fans can leave their cars only to use the restroom and must wear a mask to do so. The games will be shown on a 60-foot screen, with audio broadcast through the FM radio in the car.
The Dodgers said 1,000 tickets would be available for each game and said they would reserve the right to adjust the price for each day at any time.
Game 1 of the NLCS between the Dodgers and Atlanta Braves starts Monday at 5 p.m. PDT. Game times for the rest of the best-of-seven series have not been announced.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
