2015 Blue Jays postseason tickets will cost you a wee bit of money

I've been preparing for this for almost 20 years.

When I was 10-years-old, my mother opened up a savings account for me for the expressed purpose of purchasing Blue Jays playoff tickets. Instead of taking a full allowance, I asked her to put in a deposit every month or so. When I started working in high school, I took over and made small contributions every paycheque to that account. I continued after university and have never ever made a withdrawal, but I hope know that I will this year.

Even with those savings, looking at the Blue Jays' postseason ticket prices, which were released today, made my eyes water a little:

Season ticket holders were sent an email this morning telling them that they will have an exclusive purchasing window between 10 am on Wednesday, August 26 (tomorrow) and 5 pm on Tuesday, September 1. It is likely that the flex pack ticket holders will have a few days of their own after September 1 before sales to the general public starts in "mid-September". Ballpark Pass holders will not get an exclusive access, but can't really complain because of how good that deal is already.

All postseason tickets are to be purchased as "strips"--that is, tickets for the entire postseason must be purchased together and the club will not be selling single-game tickets, which, according to John Lott, is a Major League Baseball policy for the postseason. [Update: Lott had since edited the story to reflect the changes revealed in the first update below.] Most season ticket holders will be offered their seats during their exclusive window in addition to an equal number of additional seats up to two. Flex pack holders with 500-level tickets will get to purchase two 500-level seats, and those with 100- or 200-level flex pack tickets will be allowed to purchase two tickets to any level.

Last year the Jays had an abortive postseason ticket sale around September and they had a little short run that made it seem possible that the team could slide into the playoffs but the team fell back out of contention even before they made printed copies of the tickets. I got a refund on my deposit and that was that. I expect a little more out of the 2015 club though.

Unfortunately I did not save a copy of the ticket prices from last season, but looking at a few sources, prices are significantly higher than last season. For example, 100-level last year's Wild Card-ALDS series was $270 and this year it's $375, 200-level outfield for ALCS was $400 in 2014 and $560 this year, and the same seats for the World Series at $800 a year ago are now $1,080.

Another significant change is that the ticket deposit for the entire postseason this year has increased from $75 to $500 (last season, strips for individual series were available). Of course, if the Blue Jays don't advance to a particular series the deposit for that particular series will be refunded (however, they will make it all the way to the World Series, right?). Blue Jays fans will get a refund at the end of the postseason for unplayed games (of which there will be a lot of because we expect the team to sweep all the way, right?). In addition, all posteason tickets for season ticket and flex pack holders will be digital this year.

This year's seating chart is very similar to last year's, with the exception of the 200-level porch area (which is now known as the WestJet Flight Deck).

If the #BlueJays make the playoffs tickets could be as high as $350 http://t.co/t0cqx2a2Jz pic.twitter.com/A1JO7eYJda

— Matt Harris (@mattfharris) September 7, 2014

In 2014, standing room only tickets were sold for porch access at a relatively low price, but this year there is still no indication about what will be done with that area. I hope they do introduce those tickets later when general sales begin, as I had thought of a neat way of marketing them already.

The Blue Jays will likely sell Standing Room Only seats on the porch for postseason. They should be branded "StRO Tix in the 6ix".

— Minor Leaguer (@Minor_Leaguer) August 13, 2015

UPDATE

The Blue Jays Twitter account released information about the sale timeline for postseason tickets. As you can see, flex pack subscribers have been split into three groups with the ones who purchased it early on getting a two-day head start.

Here's our on-sale timeline for @BlueJays Postseason tickets. Click for more info: http://t.co/Nn3OsILWoC pic.twitter.com/HGFNUS4qHZ

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) August 25, 2015

The tiny fine print at the bottom reveals that standing room only tickets for the WestJet Flight Deck will indeed be available, and those can be purchased on a per-game basis too, starting September 23. In addition, by the time the seated tickets hit the general public they will also be available on a per-game basis.  You'd think they'd highlight those points rather than putting them in fine print.

UPDATE 2

The prices for the standing room tickets are much more expensive than I suspected they would be, costing the same as the 500-level infield seats and being slightly more than 500-level outfield seats. There's also a ominous disclaimer attached to the single game ticket prices, saying that MLB gives the Blue Jays the right to "dynamically price single game tickets", which means that the prices you see here could go up if demand goes up.