Astros Tickets: Don’t have a ticket for opening day, break out a credit card.

Astros opening day tickets are a little more pricey this year.

It has come, Houston Astros opening day 2017 will be here in six days. Break out your best Astros jersey that has been in your closet all offseason, maybe throw it in the refresh cycle. Break out your loud Astros and wear them to work proudly like Joe Musgrove would. Do you have enough time to grow out your Dallas Keuchel beard? Probably not, that took Keuchel years. Pick which hat you will proudly wear to work on opening day. Break out your chain if you are Wiggy!

Join Talking Stros at Jackson St. BBQ.

Now that you are all ready for opening day get up to downtown early and join Talking Stros at Jackson Street BBQ. We will broadcast live from 4 pm to about 5:30 pm. Eat some good BBQ and listen to some good Astros talk before the first game. After you leave Jackson St. BBQ, head over to the street festival to have some family fun before the game.

When you get to the street festival, you realize that you forgot to buy tickets. Opps. I hate to see how much it will cost at the ticket window. Don’t even bother talking to the guys who ask you if you have any extra tickets? If you really want to go, you will probably break out your wallet. Why pay more then, when you can do it ahead of time?

Breaks out the computer to buy tickets now. Let’s look at the prices of the seats for nose bleeds in the outfield, $40 each. What about the View Deck, that will be $58? Then the price starts really jumping up, going from $80 in the Mezzanine to $205 in the Dugout 1 seats. That’s $120 minimum for a family of four, excluding taxes and fees. This is making me glad that I have season tickets.

Why so much?

The tickets normally cost more for opening day because it’s the place to be. However, get used to paying more to go to games throughout the season. Dynamic pricing is here to stay, with games marked as blue, orange, yellow, and black. Opening day falls under the black category, which means that they are blackout games. Which means, these are the games with the highest demand. Show the Astros the money!

Baseball is a business. I understood why my season ticket package went up $200 this offseason. The Astros are a good team again and the season ticket holders have increased again this year. StubHub and other ticket outlets tend the raise the prices for certain games to match the day of the week and the opponent. The Astros are now doing that too.

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Following the flurry of moves this offseason, the Astros now have the highest payroll in team history. It’s projected to be above $120 million. Recent additions are Josh Reddick, Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann, Nori Aoki, Charlie Morton, and technically Yulieski Gurriel. These additions have raised the team’s payroll, but have also increased the expectations to win.

Future salaries.

Also, don’t forget that the Astros will have to find money to pay Carlos Correa and other young stars in Jose Altuve and George Springer. If Correa becomes the player we think he is, you are going to have to lock him up to a long-term deal soon. They won’t be able to pay everyone, but they need the money to pay them with.

While I know paying more to go to certain games is not an ideal situation, but it’s business. The centerfield renovations cost money, but it’s also another way to generate revenue. I have two seats for my season tickets, asked the wife if she wanted me to buy two more so she and my daughter could go? She asked the price, then immediately said no when I told her the price.

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With the expectations of winning comes higher ticket prices. There is good news. You can sign up for the ballpark pass for $56. Guarantees you access for all the April games, except for opening day. Happy to be a season ticket holder and can’t wait to watch the team ‘Earn It’ in 2017. Rather pay more for a winning team, time for them to earn our money.

***Ticket prices from Astros.com***