Inside the Hot Market for “Contingency” Phillies World Series Tickets
You can buy tickets to a game that may or may not happen. And you'll pay dearly for it.
Phillies fans like these are paying top dollar for potential Phillies World Series tickets (Getty Images)
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Inside the Hot Market for “Contingency” Phillies World Series Tickets
I know a lot of people who’ve already blown their annual entertainment budgets on buying Phillies playoff tickets and, in some cases, paying for trips to go see those playoff games in other cities. So they’re going to have to whip out the plastic should the Phillies make it into the World Series.
Even before we know if the Phillies are going to be in the World Series and who their theoretical opponent would be, when and where the games would be, etc., the market for Phillies World Series tickets to as-yet unconfirmed games was already hot on Monday morning.
Ticket sites like StubHub allow fans — presumably season-ticket holders who already know they have Phillies World Series tickets and where they would be in the stadium — to sell “contingency” Phillies World Series tickets. If the game doesn’t happen, you get a full refund.
On Monday morning, standing-room-only tickets for a potential Friday-night World Series game at Citizens Bank Park were starting at around $900 on StubHub. That game would only happen if the Phillies beat the Diamondbacks for the National League pennant, which could happen as early as Monday night, and if the Astros win their Game 7 and, therefore, the American League Championship, which will be decided on Monday night. (The Phillies need the Astros to win in order to get home field advantage.) For that same potential Friday-night game, tickets right behind home plate in the Diamond Club are starting at $7,200. But the catch there is that you have to buy two, so you’re looking at $14,400 plus taxes and fees.
Should things work out in such a way that the Phillies wind up playing Game 7 of the World Series at Citizens Bank Park, standing-room-only tickets for that potential game are starting at $2,300 on StubHub. But given that the vast majority of Phillies fans would be standing for the whole game anyway, maybe standing-room-only tickets aren’t such a bad idea.
All of these prices were current as of Monday morning, hours before NLCS Game 6. If the Phillies do win the National League, those prices are likely to change. And I’m guessing they’re not going down.
A City Hall Data Breach
The City of Philadelphia sure does know how to keep a secret, apparently. Back on May 24th, city officials discovered suspicious activity in the city’s email system, only realizing later that hackers may have been accessing compromised city email accounts for at least two months after that May incident. Since then, a full-blown and still-ongoing investigation has ensued. And on Friday, the city finally issued a statement about the whole mess here. Details are sketchy, but it appears the unknown doer or doers may have gained access to Social Security numbers, private health information, and financial data “related to certain individuals.” It’s unclear whether those individuals are residents or city employees or both.
Problems at Penn
You surely know what’s happening with Israel and Hamas right now. But one adjacent news story that might not have made it across your screen about a month ago was a controversy over a Palestinian cultural festival held at the University of Pennsylvania. The festival took place a couple of weeks before Hamas invaded Israel, and the controversy over the festival sort of faded from view. But since Hamas invaded Israel, that controversy has been reignited, and multi-billionaire Wharton grad Marc Rowan has been leading a boycott against Penn because of the festival, successfully convincing other alums to close their checkbooks.
Local Talent
I know Will Smith is (or at least was) the Pride of Overbrook. But can we please stop hearing about his relationship with Jada Pinkett Smith, who, Saturday Night Live joked on Saturday, had been on the Today show 14 times in three days to promote her new book. They were exaggerating. But the whole thing is a little much.
Far more interesting was the interview that Pride of Doylestown Pink gave to 60 Minutes on Sunday night. She talks about feeling like an underdog even though she’s sold something like $350 million in concert tickets alone this year — and lots of other things. You can see the full interview here.
By the Numbers
$86 million: Portion of the $340 billion Medicare drug settlement the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania will receive. That’s the country’s sixth-highest payout.
$295,000: Amount the state agreed to pay to quietly settle a sexual harassment claim against one of Governor Josh Shapiro’s “most trusted advisors,” in the words of Spotlight PA, which obtained records regarding the settlement through a public-records request. The settlement, which Shapiro signed off on in early September, will be paid using our money, of course. The aide resigned in late September.
76 degrees: Projected high in Long Beach Island this Saturday. About 71 in Cape May. Mostly sunny. If you’re not taking at least a day trip to the Shore this weekend, you’re doing it wrong. At some point not too long from now, you’re going to be shivering your ass off in Philly and thinking to yourself, Damn, I really should have hit the beach that warm day back in October.
And from the Red-Hot October Sports Desk …
Game 4 of the Phils’ NLCS with the Diamondbacks was Friday night, pitting Cristopher Sánchez against Joe Mantiply and a pitching cast of thousands. In the first, Trea singled but got picked off stealing — for the first time since 2022, for chrissake. Sánchez? He handled Arizona 1-2-3.
J.T. Realmuto was absolutely robbed of a homer by a leaping Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in the second; in the bottom half, with men on the corners with two outs, Emmanuel Rivera singled one run in. In the third, an infield single by f’ing Ketel Marte, a wild pitch, and a ground-out put an end to Sánchez in favor of Jeff Hoffman, but a Gabriel Moreno single brought Marte home. In the fourth, Kyle Schwarber finally woke up and solo-homered off Kyle Nelson, and in the fifth, J.T. got a bloop single off Miguel Castro and scored on a Brandon Marsh double. All tied up!
Matt Strahm took the mound in the bottom half and did fine; it was rookie Andrew Saalfrank in the sixth for them, and he walked Schwarbs, who took second on a lost ball by the catcher, a.k.a. a “catcher’s balk” — weird thing I never saw before! Turner walked, Harper walked, and they were loaded for Alec Bohm. End of Saalfrank. Then this happened off Ryan Thompson:
Huge 2 runs for Phillies with Turner scoring feom 2B on a throwing error to home… up 4-2 on Diamondbacks.#RedOctober #PHIvsARI
— Out Fox Sports (@MarkHolder27) October 21, 2023
Seranthony, in the bottom half, stayed out of harm’s way. We picked up one more run in the seventh on a Rojas triple and a Turner sac fly. Seranthony came out for Gregory Soto, who gave up a Geraldo Perdomo one-out single, walked Marte, and got an out at second on a grounder by Corbin Carroll. Oh God, Orion Kerkering came in. Well. He walked in a run, then got the final out.
In the bottom of the eighth, the struggling Craig Kimbrel delivered a single to Gurriel, then gave up the tying homer to pinch-hitter Alek Thomas. After Marte got a single with two outs, Kimbrel whacked Corbin Carroll’s kneecap, and his night was done. Alvarado served up a single to Moreno that scored one, and the D’backs crowd was going wild. On to the ninth. What a sorry mess. The eighth (!) D’backs pitcher, Paul Sewald, struck out Marsh on some very dubious calls, struck out pinch-hitter Jake Cave, gave up a Schwarber double, and struck out Turner. That game sucked.
And in the Next Game?
It was the Battle of the Z’s in Game 4 on Saturday night — Zac Gallen for them and Zack Wheeler for us. Schwarbs got things started with a bloop single in the first, Trea flew out, Harper followed with a single, Bohm was out on a foul pop, and Stott, bless him, singled Schwarbs home. We were winning! With Realmuto at bat, this then occurred:
Bryce Harper scores on a double steal. 2-0 Phillies
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) October 22, 2023
And it was 2-0. Yay us! That’s all she wrote through our sixth, when guess who Schwarbombed again! The longest home run of the post-season, at 461 feet. And Harper homered, too! We were gettin’ to Gallen, and Wheeler was immaculate.
Thomas hit a solo homer off reliever Jeff Hoffman in their half of the seventh that brought it to 4-1. In the eighth, the D’backs brought in Mantiply, and Harper got to first when Marte booted a pickup grounder. But Mantiply came out for Luis Frias with two outs, and son of a bitch: Realmuto went yard! For the ninth, the D’backs brought in rookie Slade Cecconi, who gave up a Rojas single and nothing else. Last chance for Arizona, with Seranthony to close. He allowed a two-out walk to Evan Longoria, who took second on indifference, and Perdomo hit a grounder that bounced off Seranthony and got him to first. That brought in Strahm to pitch to Corbin — and he struck him out. My friends, we’re coming home. See you tonight at 5:07.
What About the Birds, Though?
It was a showdown between former rivals Alabama QBs Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa on Sunday Night Football at the Linc, and the Birds were in their spiffy new kelly greens. We received, and thanks to some hard D’Andre Swift running and great Dallas Goedert receptions, we got to the seven, stalled, and went for the field goal: 3-0. The Dolphins got hit with a delay-of-game on their first offensive play — solid start! After a couple good passes, Camden’s own Haason Reddick broke through for a sack, then rushed Tua on the next play.
The Dolphins eventually scored a TD, but it got called back for holding, and they settled for a field goal. Boston Scott had a dynamite runback on the ensuing kickoff, and it was 3-3 at the close of the first. A thoughtful roughing-the-passer call got us into position for a Hurts-to-Goedert pass for a TD: 10-3. Miami went three-and-out, and Julio Jones had a three-yard catch; the crowd cheered him! A wild escape by Hurts, a pass to A.J. Brown, and it was first-and-goal. Time for Da Shove! 17-3. Guess what the crowd was singing? And guess who was at the game? (Hint: Liam and his pop!) But Tua hit Tyreek Hill for a TD with only seconds left: Make that 17-10 at the half.
Miami got nowhere on their first possession in the third, but neither did we. On their next drive, though, the Dolphs had it going, right up until this:
https://twitter.com/_MLFootball/status/1716278356021305501
They went for it on fourth down, wanted a face-mask call and didn’t get it, and the Birds took control. Don’t get too excited; the Dolphins intercepted a tip on the next play, with Jerome Brown running it in: tie game. But Hurts responded with a drive and a TD pass to A.J. for the lead again. The Dolphins put a drive to the 23 together, only to see Tyreek Hill bounce a catch off his knee. And a Darius Slay interception at the goal line got us the ball back. Whew. So many tush pushes on our next drive! And a terrific catch by A.J. at the 10 on a pass by Hurts just as he got hit. The drive ate up six and a half minutes and ended in this fab cartwheeling TD spin by Kenneth Gainwell:
🚨 𝗧𝗢𝗨𝗖𝗛𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗡
Kenneth Gainwell 3 yard rush
Eagles: 31⇡
Dolphins: 17[4Q | 4:46]#FlyEaglesFly | #PHIvsMIA
— Philadelphia Eagles Central (@pheaglescentral) October 23, 2023
Josh Sweat, who was having a night, got a sack on the next series. A stop, a big run by Swift at the two-minute warning, and it was all over: 31-17. Go Birds!
And the Rest of the Weekend?
Friday night was the Sixers’ last pre-season matchup, vs. the Atlanta Hawks at the Wells Fargo Center. Big Wetty Doody Head James Harden didn’t show up; Joel Embiid did but was clearly rusty. There were a ton of turnovers on both sides, and the Sixers were down 61-49 at the half. They mounted a comeback in the third, with an 18-3 run halfway through, and Jayden Springer got called for flopping under the new no-flop rule. Close of the third: 91-87 Hawks. Then they took the lead in the fourth, going up 110-101 with four minutes to go and taking the game 120-106 in the end. Embiid wound up with 21 points. Looking good!
Any Doop News?
It was the last regular-season match of the year for the Union, who played New England on the faux turf of Gillette Stadium in a Massachusetts monsoon on Saturday evening. They’d finish third in the MLS Eastern Conference with a win and fourth with a loss. They hadn’t had a lot of losses lately, but they hadn’t had a lot of wins, either — mostly a shit-ton of draws. Julián Carranza scored for us in the 16th minute, but New England’s Gustavo Bou matched that on his PK in the 25th. It was Bou II on a breakaway in the 61st, so it was 2-1 New England at the half. Nathan Harriel, Damion Lowe and Kai Wagner all had yellow cards. Harriel popped in a tying goal in the 87th minute but was ruled offsides, so that’s right where it stayed: a 2-1 Union loss.
The Flyers also played.
And on the College Gridiron?
The Temple Owls had another disastrous performance, against Southern Methodist University at the Linc on Friday, and it was nationally televised, naturally. Score at the half: 24-0 SMU. Final? 55-0. SMH. On Saturday, seventh-ranked Penn State fell to archrival and third-ranked Ohio State, 20-12. The Penn Quakers peacefully extinguished the Yale Bulldogs, 27-17. And Ursinus lost to Johns Hopkins, 42-14.
All Philly Today sports coverage is provided by Sandy Hingston.
