Byline: James Fuller Daily Herald Staff Writer
As the race for the National League Central Division title ends, the race for Cubs playoff tickets begins.
Actually, fans just joining the hunt for those coveted pieces of paper are already significantly behind. Most tickets are gone.
There are a few remaining in the hands of ticket brokers. By dealing with them, fans will find procrastination is an expensive vice.
First-round playoff seats went on sale Sept. 14. Computer mouse jockeys, speed dialers and overnight campers quickly gobbled up those tickets for less than $100 a piece. Now the only options are brokers, scalpers, begging that distant relative with an inside connection or hitting up the boss for one of the company's tickets.
What's it going to cost you?
Experiencing the Cubs in the playoffs may be priceless, the actual cost of the ticket could be more than you have left to charge on your MasterCard.
TicketsNow.com, located in Crystal Lake, advertised 96 tickets on its Web site Sunday. They run from a low of $215 for standing room only to a high of - brace yourself - $2,950 for prime seats. That's nearly $200 more than one semester at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and $350 more than a 65-inch Mitsubishi digital TV at Bestbuy.com.
Prices in the thousands were common at several broker sites. Some still remained in the hundreds.
Prime Time Tickets, located directly across Wrigley Field, had no tickets available via phone. On its Internet site, a scant 173 total tickets remained for both home games. The bargain basement cost for luxurious standing-room-only stubs sat at $205 per ticket for Game 3, and $20 to $40 more for Game 4 seats. Good seats were much more costly - $995 each. Game 3 on Friday is the first, and possibly only, playoff game at Wrigley Field this year.
Bargain hagglers have an alternate option at eBay.com. Bids on the site as of Sunday ranged from $1,750 for two tickets, or $785 for two lower box seats on the third base side for the potential Game 4 at Wrigley.
Don't fret at the prices - there's always Plan B.
If you bleed Cub blue, pack your bags. Tickets for the first two games in Atlanta are significantly cheaper and still available.
Leave Chicago Tuesday morning. Come back Wednesday if you survive the tomahawk chops. Stay at your conveniently located cousin's house in Atlanta. Eat all his food. You can see a Cubs playoff game for less than $250.
A Wrigley playoff ticket for anything less than $300 a piece is a steal at this point. But at Turner Field in Atlanta, where baseball playoff games are a ho-hum perennial event, Upper Reserved area tickets are priced at $8. A United Airlines round-trip ticket for game day to Atlanta stood at $231.
Hate to fly and can't score a Wrigley ticket? There's always television. That's what the majority of Cubs fans at George's Place in Naperville plan to do.
With TV screens situated no more than 3 feet apart all around the sports bar, there's no missing any action.
Max Hartwig and his friend Marty Bulinski of Naperville spent 10 years traveling all the way to spring training they love the Cubs so much. This year is the year the Cubs can finally slap a championship bumper sticker on the bandwagon, they said. But they're not interested in a road trip to Atlanta.
'I'll watch it on TV, and it'll be OK,' Bulinski said.
Likewise, Hartwig plans to try to get into Wrigley but said he wouldn't be disappointed if he failed.
'If I somehow luck into tickets, I definitely go,' Hartwig said.
Other fans were more frantic.
Luis Herrera of Schaumburg smiled as Eric Karros bashed a home run to put the Cubs up two runs on Sunday. The blast evoked a 'Yeah! Bring on Atlanta' cheer from game watchers at Smokey Bones BBQ & Sports Bar in Schaumburg on Sunday.
Herrera had already made three calls to ticket brokers and friends with connections, as well as posting a plea on the Internet.
Cell phone still in hand, he said it's not about how much he'll pay, but how great it'll feel to be there.
'Now that we have some excitement back in Chicago, fans are going to do whatever it takes to go the game,' Herrera said. 'That's our house. You have to go. The point is not to get good seats. The point is just to be there.'
If Herrera strikes out in his quest, he and other Cubs fans have one final hope: victory.
A second chance at playoff seats comes with round two, the National League Championship Series. Tickets go on sale at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
GRAPHIC: Your next chance for Cubs tickets
Tickets for the Cubs' first three home games of the National League Championship Series (beginning Oct. 7) go on sale at 8 a.m. Wednesday. Schedule will not be set until the Division Series is completed.
How to get them
By phone: In Illinois, call (800) 843-2827. Out-of-state callers: (866) 652-2827.
By Internet: Go to www.cubs.com at 8 a.m.
- No tickets will be sold at Wrigley or Tickets.Com outlets.
- Limit: Max 4 tickets by customer, household, credit card and e-mail address.
Prices: $35-$80, with standing room only for $25.
Source: Chicago Cubs
