Braves already in standing-room-only mode for first two playoff games

Ronald Acuna  celebrates his two-run homer at SunTrust Park on Thursday.

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Ronald Acuna celebrates his two-run homer at SunTrust Park on Thursday.

The Braves put playoff tickets on sale to the general public Friday morning, and by afternoon they had little more than standing-room-only tickets still available for their first two National League Division Series home games.

The standing-room tickets, which the Braves make available when the SunTrust Park seats are virtually gone, are priced at $40 apiece for those games.

Otherwise, there were only a few scattered single seats available for the Braves’ first two NLDS home games as of late Friday afternoon, a team spokeswoman confirmed.

More seats remained available for a potential third home NLDS game and all potential home National League Championship Series games. Standing-room-only tickets haven’t yet been offered beyond the first two playoff games.

It’s possible, but not certain, that more seats could become available to the public for the first two NLDS home games at a later date. The Braves have held back some seats for sale to new buyers of 2020 season tickets and other purposes.

Friday’s start of the general public sale followed a two-day “pre-sale” in which playoff tickets were made available to 2019 season-ticket holders and other “verified” fans who registered online in advance.

Single-game prices for the Division Series ranged from $35 to $200, excluding club seats. Prices are higher for the NLCS, ranging from $65 to $260, also excluding club seats.

Club seats, which include access to private dining areas and other amenities, are mostly bought by season-ticket holders. For a season-ticket holder who bought all playoff games, the prices in the SunTrust Club seats directly behind the plate were $640 per game for the Division Series and $800 per game for the NLCS, and the prices in the Delta Sky360 Club seats were $280-300 per game for the Division Series and $350-400 per game for the NLCS.

The Braves clinched a playoff berth last weekend and entered Friday night’s game against the San Francisco Giants at SunTrust Park with a magic number of one to wrap up the NL East championship. That meant a Braves win (or a Washington Nationals loss) would clinch the division for Atlanta.

As NL East champion, assuming the Los Angeles Dodgers are the league’s top seed, the Braves would open the playoffs by hosting the NL Central champ in Division Series Games 1 and 2 on Oct. 3-4. Entering Friday night, the St. Louis Cardinals led the Milwaukee Brewers by 3-1/2 games and the Chicago Cubs by five games in the NL Central.