So much for economics mattering

The recession is affecting everybody, except perhaps the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have pulled up spring training stakes from Vero Beach, Fla., and are now based in Glendale, Ariz. How else to explain going ahead with charging $90 for tickets to games that don't count?

"They're similar to the dugout seats at Dodger Stadium," Dennis Mannion told the Associated Press.

Yeah, except it's not in Dodger Stadium, and many of the games will feature players who toiled in Jacksonville and Las Vegas last year.

To be somewhat fair, the tickets are VIP tickets, which include parking, a $20 merchandise/food coupon, a gift and complimentary water and sunscreen. But the $90 price tag is almost double of what any other team charged for a spring-training ticket last season. The cheapest reserved seat for the Dodgers is $18, which is $2 more than the White Sox and Reds charged for their best spring tickets last season.

And the Dodgers rescinded away their offer to Manny Ramirez, too.

In other ticket news, the Tigers are raising regular-season ticket prices despite a disappointing 2008 season and a Michigan economy that's been hit even harder than the rest of the country. Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press calls it a Dontrelle Willis tax.

"We put a great deal of thought into this," Tigers president and GM Dave Dombrowski told the Free Press. "When you look through it, there's very little adjustment taking place. It's still a tremendous value for families and individuals."

But not as much as it used to be, that's for sure.