Reds ticket prices much higher next week

Cincinnati Reds fans are beginning to look forward to next week, and what they hope will be a winning League Championship Series against Washington or St Louis.

But first they have to get through today's do-or-die Game 5 against the San Francisco Giants.

Prices falling below face value

The good news: few fans expected the Reds to be forced into a fifth game of the Divisional Series, after starting out 2 and 0.

As a result, ticket sales have been weak for Game 5, and prices were below face value for some seats.

We found instant download seats on StubHub for as low as $5 each in the upper deck View Level Thursday morning, simply because many fans can't get to the game because of work commitments, or the fact they have already been to two games this week. Unfortunately StubHub closed sales for Game 5 shortly after 11 a.m.

But if you're looking for tickets for next week's League Championship, get ready to pay more.

Next week's prices higher

Assuming the Reds advance to play the Nationals or Cardinals, for the chance to advance to the World Series, prices are high for the next series.

The Reds are the home team, meaning the first two games will be played in Cincinnati. And we're already finding seats for as high as $900 each on StubHub and eBay.

Assuming there is a Sunday game, Standing Room Only will cost you $79 and up. That's about $20 higher than this week's San Francisco series.

Outer View Level and Bleacher seats start at $97 each, with View Level prices rising to around $200.

And lower Mezzanine seats range from $115 to almost $900 (not counting some of the wacky $9,000 prices on StubHub, which aren't realistic).

eBay prices are slightly lower in most cases, but eBay does not offer StubHub's instant money back guarantee. You have to file a fraud dispute if you end up with bad tickets or no tickets.

Caution for ticket buyers

One hint for saving money: We find that Game 2 tickets are going for a bit less, because that should fall on a weekday, and because the most demand is for the first game.

And one last caution: prices will most likely rise over the next day, so don't expect to see prices drop until game day, when unsold tickets may go on markdown.

As always, don't waste your money.
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