Fenway seats are hard to come by, and Game 6 ticket prices prove it in a big way. (USATSI)
Fenway seats are hard to come by, and Game 6 ticket prices prove it in a big way. (USATSI)

MORE: Game 6 preview

What happens when two flagship franchises -- the Cardinals and Red Sox -- are headed into Game 6 of the World Series at a low-capacity classic ballpark? Tickets on the secondary market wind up costing a lot of money, for one thing. 

In advance of Wednesday's potential clincher for the host Red Sox, ticket brokers are commanding an average of almost $2,000 per -- $1,868 per, to be precise -- reports Forbes. Some details: 

According to Jim Holzman, the CEO of Ace tickets in Boston, prices began to move last night in earnest, with the average price for Game six going up $50 an inning over the course of game 5. To put the current price in context, the next highest average prices we have for World Series tickets are the Giants in 2010, when their first two home games in San Francisco averaged $1,701.  If they had needed to come home to clinch, prices would have likely been as high, or higher than Red Sox tickets. For now, though, Red Sox ticket are as expensive as they get, and maybe the most expensive ever.

Fifty bucks an inning is not a bad rate of appreciation, especially over the course of a game as brisk as Game 5 was. As for the far, more lushly appointed end of the curve, ESPN's Darren Rovell writes that one presumably well-heeled baseball enthusiast on Monday shelled out $24,000 -- yes, 24 large -- for two primo, first-row Game 6 Fenway seats.