SPORTS
World Series begins between Dodgers and Red Sox
Fans are willing to pay top dollar to see a game, too, especially during the highly anticipated World Series that kicks off every October. Of course, tickets are kinder to the wallet during the regular season. But to see Game 1 of the 114th World Series on Oct. 23, for instance, the cheapest seat at Fenway Park in Boston would cost $375, according to TicketIQ. For Game 7 on Oct. 31 at the same stadium, the damage would range from a starting price of $875 all the way to a whopping $29,785, as of Oct. 23. That doesn’t leave much room for peanuts and cracker jacks. And that’s not mentioning the hundreds of millions of dollars wagered by the betting market every year.
But it’s more fun, not to mention cheaper, to love on baseball in certain parts of America, so which cities would fans consider a home run? WalletHub crunched the numbers to find out, comparing 360 of the largest U.S. cities with at least one professional or college baseball team, grouped by division. In each city, we looked at 31 key indicators of baseball fan-friendliness. They range from performance level of team(s) to average ticket price per game to stadium accessibility.
With the 2018 World Series in full gear and tickets to see the games live costing hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on Best Baseball Cities as well as accompanying videos to go along with its World Series Facts – Red Sox vs. Dodgers infographic. Click on any of these links to learn more World Series facts at Wallethub.
To determine the best places to be a fan of America’s third most followed sport, WalletHub compared 360 U.S. cities with at least one college or professional baseball team across 31 key metrics. They range from performance level of team(s) to average ticket price to stadium accessibility.
| Top 20 Baseball Cities | ||||
| 1 | New York, NY | 11 | Oakland, CA | |
| 2 | Los Angeles, CA | 12 | Minneapolis, MN | |
| 3 | St. Louis, MO | 13 | Detroit, MI | |
| 4 | Atlanta, GA | 14 | St. Petersburg, FL | |
| 5 | Chicago, IL | 15 | Baltimore, MD | |
| 6 | San Francisco, CA | 16 | Milwaukee, WI | |
| 7 | Cincinnati, OH | 17 | Cleveland, OH | |
| 8 | Boston, MA | 18 | Philadelphia, PA | |
| 9 | Pittsburgh, PA | 19 | San Diego, CA | |
| 10 | Arlington, TX | 20 | Kansas City, MO | |
Best vs. Worst
- MLB: The Chicago Cubs have the best performance level, 60.21 percent, which is 1.5 times better than that of the Philadelphia Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds, the teams with the worst at 41.15 percent.
- MiLB: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders have the best performance level, 60.29 percent, which is 1.7 times better than that of the Bristol Pirates, the team with the worst at 35.71 percent.
- NCAA: The Oregon State Beavers have the best performance level, 78.67 percent, which is 9.9 times better than that of the Saint Peters Peacocks, the team with the worst at 7.93 percent.
- Phoenix has the lowest average season ticket price (for MLB games), $19.65, which is 2.9 times less expensive than in Boston, the city with the highest at $56.97.
In its first match since last year’s state semifinal appearance, Saint Jo hosted Bryson Aug. 11 and took a 25-13, 25-12, 25-21 win over the Cowgirls.
The Lady Panthers lost some talent to graduation but have five seniors ready to have a successful season. Savannah Hil, one of the five, got Saint Jo rolling offensively with a four-point serving string, including a pair of aces. Abby Carter’s kill and Kamron Skidmore’s block helped put the Lady Panthers up 5-2 in game one.
Hadleigh Moore added a four-point string of her own to extend the lead to 10-3. Tatum Morman’s pair, helped by a Hill kill, gave Saint Jo a 14-5 lead. Bryson got within five before a Hill 3-pointer, with help by a Carter kill, put the lead back at 18-10.
After an Olivia Johnson kill broke serve, Jordyn O’Neal served up the final five points, with Johnson providing a kill to move things along.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
Despite being the smallest school in the Brock varsity classic volleyball tournament, the Lady Indians finished 4th out of the eight teams there.
After losing to the host team in its first pool play match Aug. 14 18-25, 14-25 and also to Class 3A Wall 12-25, 8-25, Nocona rebounded to close out pool play with a 20-25, 25-23, 25-20 win over Christoval. Sy Parker had 16 kills and 7 blocks in the three matches. Raylea Bowles had 12 kills, 17 digs and served up three aces. Maddyn Bowles had seven kills and 14 digs while Paige Davis had seven kills and 15 digs. Baylee Thomas added 11 digs.
From the setter spot, Kasi Castro had 20 assists, served up five aces and contributed 14 digs. Leah Meekins added 18 assists and six digs during the three matches.
To open Saturday’s bracket play, the Lady Indians posted a 25-18, 18-25, 26-24, 25-19 win over Fort Worth Christian. Castro staked Nocona to a 2-0 lead in game one. Kills by Parker set up pairs of points from Raylea Bowles and Leah Meekins helped Nocona negate an early deficit and take a 10-9 lead.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
County football teams had their first scrimmage of the season Aug. 14 with mixed results.
Forestburg hosted Azle Christian and Victory Christian. Under a new system with new head coach Cori Hayes, the Longhorns looked pretty good in the coach’s eye.
“The first team looked good,” Hayes explained. “Overall we need to work on our pace and blocking assignments and blocking assignments. Overall we looked good for the new regime.”
Forestburg hits the road to scrimmage Newcastle Aug. 21.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
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