Use Marriott Rewards Points to Attend MLB Postseason Games

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.

Using your miles and points to travel (as opposed to redeeming them for a toaster, sunglasses or retailer gift card) is the best pathway towards redeeming them for maximum value 99% of the time. However, there are exceptions to every unwritten rule, and historically, the SPG Moments program was one of them, offering some solid opportunities to redeem your points for cool experiences in sports, music, dining and beyond. Sometimes these gave you access to experiences you simply couldn't buy with cash (like throwing out the first pitch at the World Series), and sometimes they were a way to attend five-star events without spending your cash.

The newly integrated Marriott/SPG program has maintained this experience-type platform, and baseball fans have some terrific opportunities to use your points this fall.

Redeem Marriott points to attend the MLB Postseason

Major League Baseball's postseason has arrived, and with it comes some stellar Marriott Rewards Moments opportunities to redeem points to cheer on your home team. Some of these offers are ones you couldn't buy with cash, but most are a way to check out a postseason baseball game without smacking your wallet with a line drive.

First up, there are pairs of tickets to the various Division Series games that are happening over the next week for 50,000 Marriott Rewards points. TPG values Marriott Rewards points at .9 cents each, which means that 50k Marriott points are worth around $450 by those calculations.

I paid about $150 for a set of face-value section-400 tickets to an upcoming Astros ALDS game, but it's entirely possible (though not guaranteed) that Marriott's tickets are better than mine. In my experience, it is common for Marriott/SPG to have pretty good seats to events, though they won't tell you the exact location of the seats you are purchasing in advance. In fact, they warn you that your seats may be in the 300-, 400- or 500- level sections, but my fingers are crossed that they under-promise and over-deliver.

There are many different Division Series games available, and the price is set at a flat 50k points for a pair of tickets to all of them. However, if you're a bit of a gambler (or true baseball junkie), there is an even better deal available than these initial series.

Attend League Championship Series games for 25k points per ticket

Update: The ALCS tickets are sold out (with the exception of one auction that includes a postgame press conference), but as of right now, there are still several NLCS games available for 50,000 Marriott Rewards points for two tickets via SPG Moments.

You can also currently pick up pairs of tickets to the next round of the baseball postseason: the League Championship Series (for baseball newbies, that's right before the World Series). For the same 50k points, you'll score a pair of pair of tickets to either the ALCS or NLCS. Of course, we don't yet know who will play in those games, nor do we know where they'll be held. That said, you can bet your entire points stash that I would pay 50,000 Marriott Rewards points for two tickets to Game 7 of the American League Championship Series if the Astros were playing that game in Houston.

Of course, it's also possible that some of these games won't even take place; a team may finish off its opponent in fewer than seven games, rendering a Game 7 LCS package (for example) unusable. Even though the Marriott Rewards Moments site indicates that these redemptions are non-refundable, it also includes the following language:

"If an experience purchased through Marriott Rewards Moments program becomes unavailable, Marriott Rewards reserves the right to offer a similar item or refund the points redeemed by the Member."

I'd be quite confident that Marriott would offer a refund rather than trying to, say, substitute a Game 7 package for the other LCS in a completely different city. However, you'll want to read the full terms and conditions for the package you're eyeing before locking in the redemption.

If you decide to cheer for the Astros in a postseason game, here is where I recommend you use your Marriott Rewards points to stay (and park) directly across from the stadium. While we have you thinking about peanuts and Cracker Jacks, we also put together a round up of unique stadium food and the best credit cards for sports fans (hint: you want cards that offer a bonus on entertainment, like the 4% back on entertainment from the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card). The information for the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Interestingly, SPG version of Marriott Moments is also offering tickets to MLB postseason games, but at a much higher points rate than the Marriott Moments site. Check both but know that prices (dramatically) vary.

I wouldn't expect these to last long, so if one of the games fits into your schedule, I'd redeem sooner rather than later!