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Royals vs. Mets: Baseball fans are ready

Posted at 5:18 PM, Mar 28, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-28 18:24:15-04

If you think it's been an intense year for sports fans in Kansas City, just imagine being responsible for dressing all those fans and getting them to games.

"It's been a very busy year with the Royals," said Jason Durbin, the vice president of ticket operations for Tickets for Less. "There has been a lot of high demand earlier in the season the normal. Usually people are just excited about opening day right now, where as people are just really excited about the entire season."
 

 
Both Tickets for Less and Rally House have had to hire additional staff to keep up with the demand that doesn't seem to be letting up.
 
"Is it a lot of hours? Yes," said Chelsea Pletke, the manager for the Rally House and Kansas Sampler in Johnson County. "But it's totally worth it. Our fans are amazing and great to spend time with. We enjoy every minute of it. We like the crazy."

Pletke said fans are stocking up on World Series gear ahead of Sunday's head to head against the New York Mets. She expects inventory to take a hit as more and more fans turn up to her store to get everything from the usual (hoodies, tees, jackets) to the weird (beach balls, hot dog branders, pet swag).

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Two items she expects to fly off the shelves are the special edition jerseys and hats the Royals will wear for the season opener.

"I would guess that within 48 hours the majority of the sizes will be gone," she said of the jerseys with gold lettering. While MLB has sold the items for a while, Thursday will be the first day they appear in Rally House locations across the metro. "Fans of been anticipating these for sometime. It is been available through MLB but now that we are able to sell them and people can get their hands on them we anticipate those to go very, very quickly. Especially Alex Gordon. At the time the orders were placed his contract was still being negotiated so there is a limited quantity that were placed and so that's one of the items that we are anticipating that will go first."

As far as Tickets for Less is concerned, the local ticket broker expects tickets to continue to fly off its virtual shelves as well.

"Opening day has been a huge game with everything rolled up into prime time World Series rematch," said Durbin. "It's going to be a huge game April 5 game with the ring ceremony is probably the second most popular game."

Which means if you want to see the Royals play on the green, you're going to have to cough up some green.

Aside from the Mets, Durbin said other popular home games are the following:

     Red Sox

  • May 16 at 6:05 p.m.
  • May 17 at 7:15 p.m.
  • May 18 at 1:15 p.m.

     Astros

  • June 24 at 7:15 p.m.
  • June 25 at 6:15 p.m.
  • June 26 at 1:15 p.m.

     Cardinals

  • June 27 at 7:15 p.m.
  • June 28 at 7:15 p.m.

     Yankees

  • Aug. 29 at 7:15 p.m.
  • Aug. 30 at 7:15 p.m.
  • Aug. 31 at 7:15 p.m.

If you're looking for less expensive games with more availability, Tickets for Less recommends that you aim to attend midweek games. 

But, nothing beats free. Here are the top two ways to get free tickets:

  1. Get generous 
    Multiple community service organizations give away tickets to those who donate their time. One example is the Community Blood Center. While nothing is confirmed just yet, each year they typically run a blood donation drive that gives anyone who donates tickets to the games.
     
  2. Head to Rally House
    If you are dying to go to Sunday's game but can't or won't pay the hefty the price tag, consider strolling into a Rally House location. The stores are all raffling off the ultimate fan package: A roundtrip limo ride to The K, four tickets to the Royals vs. Mets game and a $250 gift card to their store. You must enter the raffle by Thursday. 

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Terra Hall can be reached at terra.hall@kshb.com.

You can also follow her on Twitter.

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