Guest article from our pals at TiqIQ:
Things are looking good at Fenway Park, where the mood has been set back to triumph and hope instead of despair and indignation. The Red Sox have enjoyed a strident streak since late August, going 13-4 in their last 17 games, on the back of great pitching and power contributions from all over the diamond.
The Sox’s season-long resurgence is reflected in their ticket prices this September compared with that same month last season. In September of 2012, when their dismal season was on full display for the nation to recoil (or laugh) at, the Red Sox ticket average was $87, and most fans didn’t even want to show up to Fenway Park to watch the train wreck that was the end of the short-lived Bobby Valentine era. That month, the most expensive series was a 3-game home set against the Yankees that started on September 11. That series averaged out at $95.
This September, with fortune in their favor, Boston Red Sox tickets are commanding a $117 average at Fenway, which represents a 35 percent price increase.The 3-game set they start against the Yankees Friday will again be the priciest series, but this time tickets will ring in at $169, a whopping 97 percent increase from last year’s matchup when interest in the Red Sox was weighed against what else could be found to do in Boston.
How did we get here? For one, fans love a season where the Sox surge and the Yankees dip. Jeter is back on the DL and Rivera has been knocked around in the 9th by Sox batters all year long, which assuredly has Boston fans in stitches. It’s also been a powerful stretch for the Red Sox. Outfielder Shane Victorino, not known for his slugging percentage, smacked 7 homers in August and has another 2 in September. Before August, he had just 5.
Newly-acquired Jake Peavy has been stellar for the Sox as well. He’s started 7 games for the Red Sox since being acquired from the White Sox at the end of July, notching 3 wins in August and registering an 3.31 ERA.
With Buchholz back in tow, the Red Sox own a starting rotation that has the potential to guide them through the dog days of October.
Bonus night: Red Sox and Patriots. How many people are calling in sick tomorrow?
