Not A Bad Seat In The House

As Phillies playoff baseball approaches and the inevitable struggle to gain possession of playoff tickets comes with it, many people will spend upwards of $500 to sit in the lower levels of the phenomenal stadium that is Citizen's Bank Park. But there's good news for college students like myself who can't afford to shell out that kind of money; there really isn't a bad seat in the entire stadium.

As I looked at the tickets to my two remaining games this season, I realized that one pair was for the lower level in right field, a place that I've never had the chance to sit in before. But as I thought of that, I realized that I've had the privilege of spending at least one game in every other section of the park, and have never once had a significant complaint about my seats. From the the closest seat behind home plate to the highest seat on the third baseline, and from the dead center all the way up to the scoreboard porch, I have always enjoyed my spot at the game. The way that Citizens Bank Park was built, the only seats where you lose out on any view are the upper deck in right and the scoreboard porch, but even then it is only a small segment, just larger than the warning track. This can make for some awkward, "did he hit it out?" moments, but there is always the incredible new high definition scoreboard backing our eyes up with instant replays. So in the end, a college student like myself who can't afford lower level playoff tickets is still in for a serious treat anywhere they end up.

All that being said, even though  there aren't any bad spots, some are obviously better than others, and I have to name my top five favorites:

5. Section 420/421, upper deck behind home plate: The view that you get from these seats is unreal. I was lucky enough to see a Phillies versus Diamonbacks game right around the fourth of July sitting there a few seasons back, and the full panoramic of the park combined with what you can see of the city makes these a spot to check out. My memory is admittedly a little biased because I saw a fireworks night extra inning game from there, but the view is the same every night. The only knock on these is the distance from the field itself, which is why they sit at number five.

4. Scoreboard porch, sections 241-245: Sitting in a section with its own restaurant named after the late great Harry Kalas would be enough, but the fact that doing a quick 180 puts you face to face with the beautiful monster that is the Phillies new video board makes things even better. The location is great, as it's right next to Ashburn Alley, right in front of the Majestic store, and right by an entrance. The tickets even come with a $10 voucher on them that can be used anywhere in the park. The only knock that prevents this from being higher is the loss of view of the left field warning track.

3. Luxury boxes, first base line: A little higher up, but the food that is served in the luxury boxes in the park is absolutely delicious. These are pricey and hard to get, but for those who are fans of food as well as the team and game, the investment is worth it.

2. First baseline sections 115-118: There is almost nothing better than sitting behind the team as they sprint out onto the field to start the game, looking Cliff Lee or Roy Halladay straight in the eyes as they walk back to the dugout concentrated as any person will ever be, and watching the best mascot in sports entertain the stadium from right in front of your seats. All this on top of a crystal clear unobstructed view of the entire park puts these seats firmly in second place.

1. Diamond Club, right behind home plate: Obviously being this close to the action and right behind the plate is an incredible viewpoint, but it's the added ability to access the diamond club and all of the behind the scenes places you get to look at that make this ticket worth the price tag. Also, it comes with pre-loaded cash vouchers on it that can be used for the delicious high-quality club food or merchandise. Like every other choice I made, this one is biased too because I used to spend time in this section with my Dad before he passed away, so it will always be my favorite for more than just the view.

But as I said before, no matter where you sit, the seats will never be a detriment to your game day experience. So as the season winds down and the playoffs roll in, do your best get into the park, and don't worry about the section on your stub.