If you’ve read my ballpark tips for a while, you know that I will always recommend whether to use your car or public transit to a game. But if you’re driving and parking at or near the ballpark, you should always have a plan. Booking your parking spot ahead of time with SpotHero makes the process simple, and even fun if you do it right!

Sitting in ungodly slow moving traffic with a full bladder in the streets of Baltimore or Washington can make for a memorable ballgame experience for the wrong reasons. You could also, of course, seriously overpay for parking if you go without a plan (see: Fenway Park).

So while I offer a lot of advice here, it does boil down to booking your spot in advance. This is especially the case if the ballpark is in the heart of the city, as many of the newer ones are. If most fans going to the game use public transit because of traffic and costs, SpotHero is your best bet for parking.

You can do better than this. Stick with me.

What I love about using SpotHero is that I can choose well ahead of time where I’d like to park, and I choose my spot based on a number of factors.

In Baltimore, for example, I find a garage near the Inner Harbor for a nice waterfront walk before or after the game. In Pittsburgh, I find a spot near the other side of the Clemente Bridge, for a beautiful approach to the ballpark. In Boston, I get a spot near the Prudential Center…it’s a long walk, but I can also use Commuter Rail (or a Boston Pedicab!) and get off a fly ball away from the ballpark…at a lot where people paid five times as much as I did to park. In Atlanta, I just want to be able to find my car after the game.

And of course, you get the added bonus of parking your own car. No one likes to park someone else’s at the game.

You can choose your spot based on the easiest out, be near other city attractions or eateries, or simply go cheap. If you’re making a day of visiting the city with your baseball, you can land a spot near a public transit station that will take you to the game and back (or the other way around). I’ve done this numerous times and saved a bundle.

SpotHero provides other details about the spot too, including whether your car will be under elevated train tracks and may get oil spilled on it. Each spot description shows a star based review, whether you have in/out privileges, and even a photo of the lot or garage entrance so you know what it looks like, helpful in a big city.

This is a pretty nice evening rate for baseball parking. Even in Canadian dollars.

Order the spot, get the address, put it in your Google Maps, and go. Show your barcode at the entrance and you’re in. Easy peezy.

As some of you know, I used to be a fan of ParkWhiz. They aren’t bad, but I’ve definitely found that SpotHero offers a larger selection and is better for baseball game parking. When I found myself using SpotHero instead of ParkWhiz based on that, I switched my affiliation, and now SpotHero is the Official Prepaid Parking of Ballpark E-Guides.

(Again, that’s not really a thing, but it sounds good.)

So many choices. Who wants to think about it on game day?

In a downtown city ballpark especially, try SpotHero for your ballgame parking. Or any prepaid parking, for that matter.

And please use this link to tell ‘em Ballpark E-Guides sent you!

(Note: this article contains affiliate links. If you use an affiliate link to make a purchase, Ballpark E-Guides earns a commission, at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support!)

As you probably know if you’ve visited this website, I’m a fan not just of TickPick, but also finding cheap MLB baseball tickets! One of my goals with this blog is to help baseball fans save money on tickets, since that’s often the biggest expense of going to a ballgame.

First I’m going to tell you why shopping around on third party sites is well worth it, and then I’ll tell you why TickPick is my favorite.

Don’t be fooled by the friendly looking building. They still charge fees.

But first, here is my helpful affiliate link, and thanks in advance for supporting our sponsors:

My friends at TickPick have MLB baseball tickets…they offer a best price guarantee, a buyer’s trust guarantee, and NO service fees. Sounds like a no-brainer to me!

Get $10 off your first purchase with email sign-up!

If you’re like I was for years before I started doing head-slapping research, you probably bought your baseball tickets one of two ways…either online through the team’s website, or at the box office.

And while both methods have their merits at times, I threw away a lot of money doing that.

Even though teams offer “dynamic pricing” these days, where the price of tickets goes up or down depending on a variety of factors like the opponent, starting pitchers, approaching milestones for players or teams, etc., it’s still well worth it to search online with third parties and compare prices.

Try my method, and you won’t have to wait in line.

I’ll share just one example with you. I once saved close to $120 on face value for two Red Sox tickets…for pretty good seats…just by shopping around. It was a weekday game against Oakland, so that had something to do with it…but think about how much I saved just by checking! That’s plenty left over for a Fenway Frank or seven and some postgame partying.

There are a lot of factors that can drive baseball ticket prices down, especially on third party sites…an excessively hot or cold day, a low value opponent, a home team that is underperforming, or lots of tickets still available close to game time.

That’s when you look at third party sites, where you can save a bunch.

Very important tip, though…when you’re comparing prices, be sure to go all the way to the checkout screen and find out what you’re really paying. (That actually especially applies to buying from the team website.) Those fees are a significant part of the cost of tickets.

“Back in my day, you could get tickets just by calling the team!”

Why I Love TickPick For Cheap Baseball Tickets

So this brings me to why I love TickPick for cheap baseball tickets, and why they are the Official Ticket Resale Partner of Ballpark E-Guides. (That’s not really a thing, but it sounds good.)

TickPick offers a selection of resale tickets for all MLB teams and games. You can choose a game, and sort out the available tickets by the best deal, the lowest price, and the number of tickets you need, and other filters.

But what separates TickPick is a few extras they offer. First, they have a lowest price guarantee…that’s right, this is directly from their website: If you can find the same seats on a competitor’s site for lower prices than TickPick within 30 minutes of placing your order, we’ll add 110% of the difference in price to your account in the form of TickPick credit.

Buying online spares you the search for signs like this. And the trust factor of people you meet.

They also, in case you’re understandably concerned about trusting third party sellers, offer a Buyer’s Trust guarantee, where they ensure that you’ll have legitimate tickets to enter the event. You can read more about the guarantee here. Incidentally, TickPick also has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. Thought I would add that bit.

But best of all, TickPick doesn’t add hidden fees. Call me old-fashioned, but I like knowing that I’m not going to have an additional $20 added to the price of a ticket when I’ve already started the process of buying it.

Finally, one more bonus. TickPick right now is offering $10 off your first purchase when you sign up for their newsletter. And with the newsletter, you’ll get notified about deals on other MLB tickets. Aren’t you glad you read this?

Remember, you didn’t pay fees either!

So while I’m happy to offer plenty of other advice on saving on baseball tickets, like in Boston where it’s an art form, I will tell you that TickPick is my favorite third party MLB ticket reseller. Be sure to check them out first.

(Note: this article contains affiliate links. If you use an affiliate link to make a purchase, Ballpark E-Guides earns a commission, at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support!)

I first discovered Hotwire when booking hotel rooms on a ballpark trip way back in 2003, and I have been using them so much ever since that paying $100 for a hotel room is something I don’t even consider anymore.

I’m sure you’ve noticed how expensive hotel stays are these days. If you book directly through a hotel website, you’re looking at triple digits to stay anyplace decent, and that’s not even counting the additional markup to stay in an expensive city like Boston. Years ago, before I became independently middle class, I would often stay in a Motel 6 or whatever place accepted AAA coupons.

Have you ever stayed in a Motel 6? You’re kind of happy just to see a bar of soap in the shower. But there’s a reason Motel 6 and Super 8 and Days Inn are so popular. Price.

Now, I don’t mind paying more for a nice room. I’ve stayed in Doubletrees and thought they were well worth the few extra bucks. But if I can get that room for $60 instead of $120, I’m going for it.

Hotwire makes that possible.

Hotwire lists rooms that hotels have trouble occupying and are willing to offer for a discounted price. You can sort hotels in your search by star rating, by a high level of positive reviews, by geographical area and by amenities. If you want a three star place with free breakfast and a pool near the O’Hare airport, and at least 80% of the people who review it liked it, Hotwire can find it for you.

There’s one catch: Hotwire won’t give you the name or address of the hotel until you book it, and there’s no canceling unless you pay a few extra bucks for a cancellation policy.

I have no problem with this. How many times are we familiar with the area we’re staying in anyway? I’ve had less than stellar experiences staying in popular name brand hotels. There can be a world of difference between two Best Westerns (I like Best Western, just using them as an example). If 90% of the customers liked the place, I figure I’ll be fine.

I have gotten some absolute steals on hotel rooms through Hotwire, and it’s still my favorite site for lodging.

By the way, you can also get inexpensive rental cars and flights through Hotwire, and I’ve done very well using Hotwire for that too.

Full disclosure: Hotwire is an affiliate of Ballpark E-Guides. Even if they weren’t I’d happily recommend them anyway. So tell them I sent you and use this link to try it on your next baseball trip.

(Hotwire ad courtesy of Hotwire.)

So you have no problem taking a 4-5 hour trip to see your favorite team in another ballpark, right?

For fans whose home ballparks are outrageously expensive to visit, like Cubs and Red Sox fans, it’s a popular thing. Much of downtown Baltimore’s hospitality industry is dependent on Red Sox and Yankees fans that visit Camden Yards 21 times a year.

If you want to save a boatload of money on such trips, try a Megabus.

Just saying, when they’re in service they’re great.

Megabus is a luxury bus service available now in about 50 cities in the U.S. and Canada (and in the U.K. even, but anywhere they don’t play baseball doesn’t matter). They have single and double decker buses, all of which have Wi-Fi and free plug-ins. And they do it all for a ridiculous price, sometimes as low as $1. You have to book such deals well ahead of time, but that’s worth the trouble.

Megabus operates from popular transportation hubs in large cities, so your only part of it is getting to the transportation center. In my home town of Philadelphia, that would be the 30th Street Amtrak station. With most ballparks in downtown areas these days and easily reachable by public transit, you should be able to leave the car at home and save a ton.

I’ve used Megabus a few times with great results, but my favorite example is when I used one from NYC to Boston…for just $2.50 round trip. I found a couple of $1 fares and the fee was just 50 cents.

Between gas and tolls, driving that distance would cost at least $50—assuming you are using your own car. And that’s not figuring in the aggravation of the traffic, which is always bad in Connecticut and usually bad near New York and Philadelphia. Not dealing with that is certainly worth a few extra bucks. Did I mention the price of parking in Boston?

Four hours is a long time to ride on a bus, but Megabuses are clean, air-conditioned and comfortable, with free Wi-Fi to keep you busy. You can take care of all that other business you are too busy driving to do, or you can go onto the upper level and enjoy the panoramic view. You’re allowed one piece of luggage and a carry-on bag, which for a weekend trip should be plenty.

He may be small, but he looks friendly enough.

Megabus covers most major cities in the U.S. and Canada. In most cities (not all, but most) they’ll drop you off near a public transportation hub that will get you anywhere else in the city in short order, certainly to the local ballpark.

It isn’t perfect, according to some reviews I’ve read…sometimes buses are late (honestly…is there a bus service that’s always on time?), and a few people have complained that the Wi-Fi doesn’t always work.

But I personally have never had a problem with them, and to get from New York to Boston and back for practically nothing? I’ll take it.

www.megabus.com

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