Photo courtesy of Thinkstock
MLB's Opening Day is a special moment teeming with optimism. Unfortunately, those soothing positive feelings are going to cost you, greatly.
GOBankingRates.com, a website dedicated to personal finance solutions, unveiled the results of its study on the various costs associated with MLB ballparks across the nation.
READ MORE: 10 Best Hotels for Experiencing MLB in 2016
Whether it's a road trip to take in all of the NL West stadiums or a local jaunt to you favorite team's cathedral, chances are fairly great that many of us will spend the summer watching grown men play a game for a great deal of money.
Obviously, your contributions help that aim.
If you are considering various trips this season then perhaps take in the website's research findings, which illustrates, on average, the most and least expensive parks in all of baseball.
The following infographic covers things beautifully.
Image courtesy GOBankingRates.com
Granted, this is hardly an exhaustive list representing every last item you might consider when visiting a stadium.
However, the website covered valuable aspects that affect just about every fan: It concentrated on ticket prices (relegated to an average of the "five cheapest season ticket prices advertised on the baseball team's official MLB site"), hot dogs, beers and parking for two.
Extrapolate those findings how you like, but there are some big takeaways you get instantly from poring over its slideshow.
For one, it's nice to live in the Los Angeles area. Now this writer can attest to the fact that fans still whine about parking and inflated prices at Dodgers games, for example.
READ MORE: What's The Best Food At Every MLB Ballpark?
However, the Angels and then the Dodgers represent the first and second cheapest date in baseball respectively.
An Angel game will run you just under $50 while a Boston Red Sox game, the polar opposite in this regard, mandates a whopping $157 thanks to tickets in the "cheap" seats that command almost $100 of your income.
Now there are some things to consider. For example, the Rays offer free parking, but then you remember the stadium is in St. Petersburg, a nice drive away from Tampa, and it all begins to sink in.
Conversely, parking at a Cubs game can be expensive, but Wrigley also happens to be beautifully accessible by public transportation.
And, if we are talking $1 hot dogs at any stadium, you do realize that you get what you pay for.
So take some of the findings with a little bit of inner deliberation.
Then again, you are a baseball fan who orders beer by the bucket and hot dogs by the armful. You don't care about trivial matters like the cost of things the second you enter the ballpark.
The World Series, after all, isn't going to pay for itself.
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
