The Upper Bleachers are basically the last 10 or so rows of the Bleachers (depending on the section). For example, in Section 38, row 27 is the first row to officially be “Upper” Bleachers. This means that the people in row 26 paid $28 per ticket, and the row behind them paid $12. Of course, you will never actually pay $12 since the Uppers always sell out during online sales, and you end up paying the extra $4.25 service charge (Plus $7 per order don’t forget) so a pair ends up costing you $39.50. But this is still cheaper than getting a standing room ticket so its a winner.

The trick to getting upper bleacher tickets is to go straight for them during any ticket sale. There are many others like me who would rather attend 6 or 7 games rather than spend $100 for a single ticket. This means they go fast.

Sections 36-39 are typically better as you are positioned directly behind the batter and pitcher. It’s actually very fun to be able to see over the pitcher’s head on the field. You are basically getting the TV angle for the most part and you can really see the horizontal movement on each pitch that is easy to miss when you’re watching a game from the side.

Also, in sections 36-39, the Uppers start around row 27 and go up to 40. So if you are in row 40 of section 39, you are literally all the way in the back under the large Center field Scoreboard.

In sections 41-43, the upper rows are I believe start around 42 or 43, and go all the way up to 50. 50 is the last row under the Dunkin Donuts sign where they always show a row of kids sitting.

In the end, the Upper Bleachers aren’t the best place to watch a baseball game at Fenway, but they 100% are the cheapest. Even cheaper than standing room, and that means to me, a great deal, especially when you are more interested in exploring the park and walking around.

Seating Map for 2010

Tickets for September games as well as April and early May (again, excluding the Yankees) are already on sale and are actually quite readily available if you’re willing to take the weather risk.

Yankees games, Monster Seats, and Budweiser Roof Deck seats will most likely be available only by winning an email lottery again this year.

So get comfortable in front of your computer(s) and get ready to start Virtually Waiting.

See you there!

The Virtual Waiting Room - my screensaver for the day

Please wait for us to refresh your browser! I didn’t get through the Virtual Waiting Room until after 3:00 Saturday and didn’t have a lot of hope to get any tickets… but it turns out that there were plenty still available. I managed to get 2 infield grandstands for the Patriots Day Pack (Pack 2) and 4 Bleacher tickets for Pack #10. I also got through later at night for the April/May game on sale and got a pair of uppers for a couple random Thursday night games. Not great seats, but even after the fees, you’re in Fenway Park for less than $20.

I think the reason so many tickets were available so late is because nobody was getting through for a lot of the day. The Red Sox claim their system accommodates 500 people at a time. That may be true normally, but according to WBZ, the Red Sox server crashed at least twice during the weekend. Maybe they can use some of that extra money we all had to shell out this weekend and invest in some load balancing tools… Or better yet, upgrade your servers to allow more than 500 and give me 3 or 4 Saturday mornings per year back.

Tickets are a little bit more expensive this year, with Bleacher tickets rising to $28 (Though the Uppers are still $12) and Infield Grandstand’s up to a whopping $52 per game. Of course, when you buy them over the internet, convenience fees will add probably around $7 per ticket.

I suspect the 4-packs will be more popular since they include Yankees tickets, so its probably wise to go after those first. My favorites are going to be Opening Day, Patriots Day, Splindid Splinter with a Saturday Yankees game in May, and the Extra Innings pack that includes a Sunday Yankees game. There are 2 weekend series on sale as well that will be the best tickets to buy in the general on-sale. This is the Rays on the weekend of April 16 and the Orioles on the weekend of April 24.

Hope to see you there!

2010 Sox Pax are announced, and they look very similar to last year. With the Yankees coming in to open the season, the Opening Day Pack is clearly the most desirable, if for only that 1 game. The Patriots Day Pack looks good too, given that it includes both a Yankees Game and the Patriots Day game. That one, I’m sure, will be the next to sell out.

They have one called the Yankee Pack, which includes an October game against the Yankees, but those last weekend games are always risky given that, more often than not, those games turn in to AAA games while the starters are rested for the playoffs. Still, if it does end up coming down to the last series of the year to decide the division or the playoffs, that may be the best pack out there.

The rest of the packs are somewhat desirable – Packs 7 and 8 also have Yankee games on that last weekend, so if you’re the gambling type, go ahead and go for those.

The one thing I will mention about the Pax is that there really aren’t many tickets available. Even if you are the first customer to break through the Virtual Waiting Room, you aren’t going to get very good seats. The Sox Pax look attractive, but you’re pretty much stuck with the bad seats in Fenway for whichever games you get. This often includes the Right Field Granstand corner seats – sections 1-6, and Bleacher seats that probably won’t be below row 25. Still, it’s a great way to get some coveted Yankees and weekend tickets without having to win a lottery or pay twice the price on a site like Stubhub.

You can check out the dates from the official Red Sox site as well.