Game 5 ticket prices plummeting as Cubs face elimination

It probably isn't much consolation to Chicago Cubs fans - after waiting 71 years for a pennant, their beloved club is now mired in a 3-1 hole in the World Series - but at least ticket prices aren't nearly as unreasonable as they were earlier this week.

With the Cubs now facing elimination following their 7-2 loss to the Cleveland Indians in Game 4, ticket prices for Game 5 at Wrigley Field on Sunday dropped as low as $802 late Saturday night - a 72 percent decline from the start of the best-of-seven showdown, according to TicketIQ. (On Thursday afternoon, when the series was tied at one game apiece, the median price for Game 3 - the first World Series game at Wrigley since 1945 - was about $3,000, while the median price for Saturday's affair was $3,700.)

As of early Sunday morning, the cheapest single ticket available for Game 5 on Stubhub, the preeminent re-sale site, was going for $557 (Infield Terrace Reserved 231, Row 16), while the cheapest pair of standing room tickets were set at $700 apiece.

Though industry experts speculated that Game 5, in Chicago, could yield the most expensive re-sold tickets in the history of American sports, with the Cubs now playing just to stay alive, that won't happen.

"The results really drive the prices," SeatGeek spokesman Chris Leyden told Stacy St. Clair of the Chicago Tribune. "It's impossible to predict how high the prices could go because the situation is unprecedented."