Kansas City Royals Playoff Push Leads to Ticket Buying Stress

The Kansas City Royals find themselves playing meaningful baseball games late into the season this year. For the first time since 1985, the team has a legitimate shot at playing in the postseason. Royals fans are excited for this opportunity.

The reality of the situation set in this week as fans lined up, both in person and virtually, to purchase playoff tickets. The lines outside Kauffman Stadium were long. The ticket-buying process online was frustrating.

"

From my office window...some well-deserved excitement in #KC for potential #Postseason games at #TheK! pic.twitter.com/21t4Qkxzfr

— Erin Sleddens (@esleddens) September 18, 2014"

Some fans noted many issues with the online ticket-ordering system, powered by Tickets.com. There have been reports of extra charges to credit and debit cards. There have also been reports of charges without tickets actually being purchased.

The excitement of the fanbase simply challenged the technology in place. The team has vowed to resolve all the issues, according to a press release addressing the problems. The release reads, in part:

"

Through its normal course, Tickets.com carefully monitored the sale and purchase of tickets and upon identifying irregularities in checkout times from a third-party processing vendor immediately took steps to securely manage traffic through the purchase flow, ensuring every patron had the same opportunity to purchase tickets during Thursday's historically-high online order process. During this time some patrons experienced slower than expected checkout times, potentially resulting in errors completing transactions. Online customers who experienced technical difficulties in purchasing tickets for potential 2014 Postseason Wildcard and American League Division Championship games have been identified and will be contacted directly. 

"

Anytime a team can claim that ticket purchases reach a "historically-high online order process," something is going right. In Kansas City, it is fair to say it is a problem no one anticipated. The last time the team was able to go through this process, online ordering was not a reality.

Still, persistent fans stuck with the process and were rewarded. The opportunity, which is the first in the lifetime of many fans, was seized.

"

Got em!! Not great seats but @royals playoffs here we come!!!!! pic.twitter.com/oODXu7nkJ4

— Jana Corrie KMBC (@JanaCorrieKMBC) September 18, 2014"

With 11 games to go in the regular season, including a suspended game to be played Monday against the Cleveland Indians, the Royals find themselves very capable of making the postseason. They currently remain half of a game back of the division-leading Detroit Tigers. They also find themselves with a half of a game lead over the wild-card race.

The Royals, as well as Kansas City, seem to be ready for October.

Bill Ivie is the founder of i70baseball.com
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