Inside Baseball: Blue Jays are pushing the limits of WNY fans on ticket prices

It was plainly obvious that the Jays were going to cash in on last week's games against the New York Yankees and the prices reflected that. Some tickets went for as high as $247 a seat through official means, and suites cost even more. The average Buffalo fan wanting to see Major League Baseball – and probably those most interested in supporting the Jays – took the three Yankees games off while local Bombers fans paid whatever it took to get in to a once-in-a-lifetime series in Buffalo.

And it's well-known downtown that the Jays fretted they put the Yankees series on sale too soon and were only able to get 45% capacity. They're able to go to 80% for the next homestand, and by the end of it on July 4, they will be the only team not playing at full capacity. As it has at each stage of Jays' time in Buffalo, the word is that they are re-evaluating all ticket protocols going forward.

Now, the normal (read: non-Yankees) schedule returns and Buffalo baseball fans who want to go to a game have at least 16 more chances, and I'm betting more than that. But unlike the first homestand against Miami and Houston, when some tickets went for $27 and $36, the upcoming games are really pushing the limit of fans' wallets.

A check over the weekend on the Jays' site found these ranges for upcoming games:

Baltimore – Thursday and Sunday, $58-$105; Friday, $69-$125; Saturday, $63-$115.

Seattle – June 29-30, $50-$90; July 1, $44-$80.

Tampa Bay – July 2, $69-$125; July 3, $63-$115; July 4, $58-$105.

Texas – July 16-17, $69-$125; July 18, $63-$115.

Boston – July 19, $83-$150; July 20-21, $77-$140.

And don't forget the $6.50 per ticket "convenience fee" and $4.75 "order fee," which are common – and complete scams – in the ticketing industry for sporting events and music. Memo to teams: There are no ticket associates and paper involved. We're doing all the work ourselves online. 

So only one game (July 1) has even a single ticket for less than $50 and the three Seattle games are the only ones in which the top seats are less than $100? Maybe I shouldn't be surprised, but I'm surprised and not in a good way. These aren't Bisons games, when you can expect to get in for $20 or less, but these prices are far more than I expected.

All the issues the Blue Jays are facing are understandable. They spent millions to fix up this ballpark and their competitors are all now in full stadiums while they're in a place that will at maximum allow them to sell only around 15,000 seats. That's a major revenue drain and I get all that.

But $125 to see the Orioles and Rangers on a Friday night?

Seriously? 

And you're already seeing the effects. Tickets went fast for the Marlins, Astros and Yankees. There was demand and prices were decent. Go on the Jays' site now and there's no problem getting seats. Maybe the dynamic price model will lower the numbers as the games approach. But do the Jays want to sell these seats or have reams of empties? It's their choice.

They should be thinking long and hard about prices going forward. Maybe there's not going to be the rush to the box office that they anticipated.

You saw a lot of crabbing from Toronto fans on social media about how the Jays were getting "treated" in Buffalo and it was ridiculous. The club had raucous home crowds for their opening five games here and will have almost the entire house for this next homestand.

(Funny how you don't hear that kind of carping from Toronto when Maple Leafs fans pile into KeyBank Center for a Sabres game or when Western Canada-based folks take over T-Mobile Park in Seattle every year for the Jays' annual trip to play the Mariners.)

You wonder if it's going to be the same for the Red Sox series here – simply because the Jays outprice their own fans.

HE JUST SAVED A HOME RUN AARON JUDGE pic.twitter.com/MlRcj0iWBx

— John Sterling Calls (@JSterlingCalls) June 18, 2021

Cut out the concessions scam

One other point from the Yankees series: The Jays went to dynamically priced concessions, marking up every food and beverage item at the ballpark by $2. Shame on them. A couple of workers whom I talked to said they were embarrassed to have to tell people who had been to games the previous week what the increased prices were.

Your $10 cheeseburger suddenly was $12. Your $5 and $6 pizza slices were $7 and $8. A hot dog was $8, an Italian sausage $11. A bottle of pop was $7. A can of beer ran as high as $18. 

The Jays should knock this stuff off. It should be beneath them. Don't do it on July 4 weekend against Tampa Bay, or when the Red Sox or Indians are here, or if the Yankees return in September. Be better than this and don't just drop at the altar of the almighty buck.

Border talk

Although the team hasn't officially announced it yet, the continued closure of the Canadian border through July 21 means the Blue Jays will be here for the homestand that opens July 30 and runs through Aug. 8. It includes three games each against Kansas City and Boston and four against Cleveland.

If the border opens July 22, maybe the Jays can make it home for the seven-gamer against Detroit and the Chicago White Sox that runs Aug. 20-26. More likely would be the six-gamer against Baltimore and Oakland that runs Aug. 30-Sept. 5. Remember, President/CEO Mark Shapiro reminded reporters and fans that returning to Toronto won't be a flip-a-switch proposition.

Shapiro has estimated it could take as long as four weeks for the Jays to get their staff and equipment back to Rogers Centre, arrange housing for players and their families and get the ballpark ready, especially if fans are allowed to attend. The dome, remember, has essentially been mothballed since the team held its Winter Fest in January 2020 and has not hosted a game since Sept. 29, 2019.

Little Three triple play

• The Blue Jays are desperate for bullpen help and it seems they should be putting in another call to Canadian reliever and former Canisius College pitcher John Axford. Now 38, Axford last pitched in the big leagues with the Dodgers in 2018 after appearing in 45 games that season with Toronto (4-1, 4.41).

Hall of Fame writer Bob Elliott, the longtime Blue Jays beat man for the Toronto Sun, tweeted Thursday that Axford was throwing up to 98 mph during Team Canada's Olympic qualifier in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Axford, who pitched at Canisius in 2006, has 144 saves in his big-league career and led the National League with 46 for Milwaukee in 2011 when the Brewers fell two wins shy of the World Series.

• Former St. Bonaventure star and Frewsburg native Connor Grey is back in affiliated ball as his contract was transferred from the Chicago Dogs of the independent American Association to the New York Mets. He will report to Double-A Binghamton.

The right-hander was 3-2, 3.17 with 37 strikeouts in 34 innings for Chicago. He was a 20th-round pick of Arizona in 2016 and pitched a perfect game at Class A Kane County in 2017. Grey made seven appearances at Triple-A Reno in 2019, but was released by Arizona as part of the pandemic purge of minor-leaguers and did not play last year.

• Second baseman Greg Cullen, who led the nation in batting with a .458 average at Niagara in 2018, was promoted to Double-A Bowie in the Baltimore chain from Class A Delmarva after batting .281 in 10 games. Cullen was a 15th-round pick of Atlanta in 2018.

Around the horn

• Props to the Blue Jays for their PA and scoreboard salute to Bisons operators Bob and Mindy Rich for their support when they showed up at the ballpark Tuesday night. And great to see protocols allowing the WCC race back on the field, with Bleu Cheese taking Celery's checkered flag in the first running. 

BULLETIN: The WCC race returns. Bleu Cheese wins! #Bisons #Bluejays pic.twitter.com/ntHroV7vYw

— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) June 18, 2021

• How would you pitch Vladimir Guerrero Jr.? "I wouldn't," Jays reliever Trent Thornton joked last week. "He's hitting everything and hitting everything hard. He hit a couple balls (during the team's trip to Fenway Park) that looked like they were going to go through the Green Monster."

• The Orioles hit town to open Thursday's series against the Blue Jays on a 19-game road losing streak, longest in the American League since the Philadelphia A's dropped 19 in a row in 1945. The Orioles' last road win was John Means' no-hitter May 5 in Seattle.

• The Padres returned to full capacity in Petco Park for Thursday's dramatic 6-4 win over the Reds before 40,362. They gave up four runs in the ninth – and scored four in the bottom of the ninth on two-run homers by Eric Hosmer and Victor Caratini.

Broadcaster Don Orsillo punctuated his home runs calls by saying balls were flying "into a sea of San Diegans," and the video of the scene was wild.

Said Padres manager Jayce Tingler: "Does this happen without the fans? My honest immediate reaction is: No. I don’t know if we do that without the place just kind of rocking throughout the night."