SAN FRANCISCO — Giants fans Will Nicolay and Bryant Chee purchased their World Series tickets less than an hour before the start of Game 3 Friday night. With prices for standing room only tickets hitting a high of nearly $700 the day before the game, they planned to wait until the last minute and hope for a price drop. When they saw two reserved tickets together for only $432.50 apiece, they jumped on it.
But as they walked up the steps to the left field reserved section of AT&T Park, Nicolay and Chee wondered if maybe they hadn’t made a huge mistake.
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Their two prized seats were located smack dab in the middle of about 200 Royals staffers and guests who had traveled 1,500 miles to see their team play in enemy territory.
“My first thought was, ‘This can’t be the right section,’” Chee said during a break in the sixth inning.
“Right?” added Nicolay. “We paid for a home game.”
The Royals employees were similarly confused. They’d traveled together on a chartered plane, roomed in the same two hotels near the airport and spent the day sightseeing together, only to find two outsiders making their way to the heart of their cheering section minutes before the start of the game.
Despite the momentary confusion, the two Giants fans quickly made friends among the Kansas City crowd. “Aren’t they great?” asked Lori Bobki, whose husband works for the Royals. “They had no idea what they were getting into, but we’re all just having fun.”
“The Royals employees are great,” said Nicolay. “We bonded over the fact that it was so unlikely for both teams to have made it this far.” Even though the Giants are in their third World Series in five years, that sentiment seemed shared by fans throughout the stadium. Both teams were wild cards this year, and their supporters feel lucky to be here.
“The atmosphere is wonderful, the food is wonderful,” said Bobki. “The people are so nice. I love this town. I don’t really want to say it out loud, but if we lost the World Series, I’d still be happy. This is an amazing experience.”
Friday night was Nicolay’s first World Series game, and he wholeheartedly agreed. “This is amazing,” he said.
And as for his new friends?
“Kansas City people are great, as it turns out. Who knew?”
Erin Faulk is a documentary filmmaker and writer based in the Los Angeles area, best known for a unique brand of storytelling on Twitter. Examples of her work have appeared on Slate, Gawker, Jezebel and other sites.