Yesterday afternoon, I received an interesting e-mail from a reader that I wanted to share with the group:

I was online Tuesday morning with all my account numbers and Ticketmaster accounts with credit card info saved and in place. In short I was ready to pull the trigger as soon as the tickets went on sale and I was able to get 2 games.

What i wanted to mention though is that when i clicked on “best available” at like 1 second after 10 a.m. I was able to get Tier Res. 34. I thought those were kind of weak tickets for such an early response. You think if I took the time to chose Main Reserve or something I could have done better? Just curious … it seemed like the system was set up to give you worst available than best?

This is an interesting question, and one I get asked a few times every season. TR 34 doesn’t quite seem like the “best” available at any point during the season. Yet, many people who try to get the playoff tickets get shafted. Why?

In short, the answer lies in the season ticket holders. All of the Yanks’ season ticket plans come with playoff preferences. Since a vast majority of season ticket holders hold seats for flex plans, they can’t all get what they would consider their own seats for the playoffs, but they do get early access to seats in the Stadium.

By the time the team releases the tickets to the general public, most of the seats – and all of the good seats – are already sold. That’s why people logging in at 10 a.m. get stuck with TR 34.

Had our reader opted for Main Reserve instead, he would have received equally as bad seats but would have been charged more for them. So pick your poison.