The Yankees-Dodgers World Series is a recipe for high ticket prices. How much does the trip cost?

The ticket price for this year's World Series matchup between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees could be the most expensive in recent history.

As of Tuesday night, the cheapest individual tickets for Game 1 in Los Angeles and Game 3 in New York are about $1,100 to $1,300 on StubHub's resale market. As of 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday, the average ticket price for this year's World Series on the resale site was $1,667.

This compares to an average price of $884 in 2023 and $1,303 in 2022.

“From a demand standpoint and our current performance … it is on track to be the best-selling World Series in StubHub history,” said Adam Budelli, a spokesman for StubHub.

Budelli said this year's sales have already surpassed last year's game between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks. Sales are four times higher than the same period of the 2022 World Series and twice as high as the same period of the 2021 World Series.

This is partly due to the teams involved.

“What we see here are two iconic and extremely large fan bases,” Budelli said.

It may be the most expensive ticket to the Fall Classic since 2016, a year that brought together two championship-hungry fan bases in the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians. According to ESPN, the average price of a ticket sold on StubHub for the three games in Chicago in this series was more than $3,000.

There's the devotion of Yankees and Dodgers fans, who happen to be based in the two largest cities in the United States. Then there is the long history of the two teams meeting in the postseason.

Add to that the highly anticipated matchup between likely MVPs Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani — coincidentally two of baseball's biggest stars — and the fact that the Yankees haven't made it to the World Series since 2009. The Dodgers last won the title in 2020, albeit at a neutral site in Texas with limited fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It's a recipe for high ticket prices.

Comparison of prices to other major events this year

Comparing different sports is difficult – the Super Bowl only includes one game and NBA stadiums seat fewer fans than baseball stadiums.

However, Dodgers and Yankees fans have it easier than Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers fans. The average Super Bowl ticket cost $8,278 on StubHub this year.

Tickets for the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks NBA Finals cost an average of $1,863. In contrast, tickets to the recently concluded WNBA Finals cost an average of $163 on StubHub.

When is the best time to buy?

Due to high demand, ticket prices may not drop after the first pitch, as is often the case during the regular season.

“I've seen this in the past with World Series and other large events where there are usually a lot of people waiting for these last minute deals and the prices actually go up in the last windows because of so many people trying to buy and the limited number of Tickets,” Budelli said.

Budelli recommended limiting the number of tickets you buy – a single ticket would be cheaper than finding seats for a group of six. He also suggests purchasing tickets from trusted sources and avoiding cash payments to prevent ticket fraud.

But at the end of the day, you shouldn't count on many lucky offers.

“Certainly I wouldn’t expect a massive reduction in some ticket prices,” Budelli said.

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(Photo: Vincent Carchietta / USA Today)