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.

One of the big questions that seems to be on the minds of people everywhere is what will David Ortiz bring to the table in the way of offense and make impressive strides towards being a team player this year. The answer to this question is simply that “Big Papi” will be a major player in the roster of the Red Sox and as a result I assure you that there will be an improvement in the record of last season.

There have been a lot of off season trades going around to get the big players to sign, including the biggest one of them all Roy Halladay who wound up signing with the Phillies, even Boston at one point was in the deal to get the pitcher from the Blue Jays to sign. In the end though they lost out on the deal. There is a bit of relief in the fact that the Boston Red Sox signed outfielder Mike Cameron to a two year deal that will give the player a reported $15.5 million contract. This is just a drop in the bucket compared to other players and what they are pulling down. Let’s just say that the Boston Red Sox have a salary of $170 million that they will be paying players this season.

In addition to Cameron John Lackey has decided to place his name on the dotted line and sign with the Boston Red Sox. This is a big deal given that Lackey was the most sought after free agent on the market. These off the field accusations have given the Boston Red Sox to believe that this will be the year that they return to the World Series and dare they dream of actual winning the whole thing once again. This is a distinct possibility that is likely to happen without any real trouble. All of the elements are in place on the Boston Red Sox Roster to make this the best season that they have had in quite a long time. There will be a lot of players that will be sure to see where the team will end up at the end of the season and make their decision if they will sign with the Boston Red Sox in 2011 or not. This could be the year that the Boston Red Sox go to the big game and in the end win it all.

Shane Hill is a huge fan of the Red Sox. Check out his Boston Red Sox Watch or his New England Patriots Watch.

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.

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.