The situation in the Bronx looks even worse, with the two games at Yankee Stadium commanding the cheapest average ticket price for any Subway Series game in the past four years.

WSJ: No Juice In Big Apple Rivalry

That was when the city authorities, in a bid to attract drivers of private cars off the road, slashed the ticket prices on the subway -- by more than half in some cases -- and introduced a flat fare of 2 Yuan (30 U.S. cents) with unlimited transfers.

CNN: Beijing commuters feel the squeeze

People in New York take obnoxious pride in their iPod playlists, curating them with precise attention to hipness and currency, as if they're fearful Lou Reed will peep over their shoulder on the subway, see the Black Eyed Peas on the screen and buy them a ticket on the first bus back to Connecticut.

WSJ: How to Do a Workout Playlist

The drop in ticket prices for these games is particularly surprising considering the new format: After playing six Subway Series contests every year since 1999, the two teams will play just four this season, all in the span of a week.

WSJ: No Juice In Big Apple Rivalry

Yet it is just the highest profile in a string of big-ticket projects including a concert hall in Hamburg, railway tunnels in Munich and Leipzig, a subway line in Cologne and a Stuttgart underground train station that have been plagued by huge cost overruns and delays.

NPR: Berlin's Airport Project Delays Shame Germans