Yesterday morning, after the team became the National League champs, online asking prices for a single Series admission to Citizens Bank Park were listed as high as $25,000.

And that was for standing room, according to StubHub.com.

"Ask and ye shall receive," however, isn't always true, ticket experts say.

Some of the top asking prices are "absurd," suggesting someone's made an error or isn't really trying to sell, said Jeremi Conaway, vice president of Wanamaker Ticket Office, a Center City broker.

"They're what we call 'make me move' prices," said Christian Anderson of FanSnap.com, which consolidates ticket listings from about a dozen online services. "The guy wants to go to the game, but will pass it up if someone will give him $20,000."

In some cases, comparable tickets can be had at a tenth or less of those inflated prices, Conaway said.

Standing-room World Series tickets are going for about $750, and some outfield seats are available for about $1,000, he said.

Forget about getting tickets at face value from the Phillies. Any tickets not taken by season-ticket holders - at $125 to $225 - were offered to fans who entered a lottery that ended a couple of weeks ago. Any newly available tickets - turned in by an opposing team, for instance - will go to people on the lottery list, said John Weber, Phillies vice president of sales and ticket operations.

"No tickets will be sold at the windows," he said.

Ticket buyers should be wary, Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett warned yesterday. To avoid paying for nonexistent or counterfeit tickets, consumers should buy only from reputable dealers (preferably authorized by Major League Baseball); check that the ballpark actually has the quoted seat numbers, rows, and sections; never wire-transfer money to strangers; and use a credit card so charges can be disputed.

Also look into a seller's guarantees. Some online sellers, such as StubHub, have them; others, like Craigslist, don't.

In the resale market, fetching the biggest bucks are infield seats close to the playing field or in special sections like the Diamond Club.

One StubHub listing of $12,999 for a Diamond Club seat in Game 5 was overpriced, but less outrageously so, Conaway said.

"All you can eat, all you can drink, it's second row looking into the Phillies dugout - it's as good as it gets," he said.

Similar seats, though, have sold for under $4,000 for this year's World Series and last year's, he said.

StubHub's actual Series sales for Citizens Bank Park this postseason have ranged from $90 standing-room tickets to $3,500 for the Diamond Club. Last year, the range was $250 in the outfield to $5,999 for seats behind the dugout.

At TicketNetwork.com, another major online service, the most actually paid so far for a Series game was $4,700 for each of two seats right behind home plate in Philadelphia - and each of two seats in a special section at Yankee Stadium, according to spokesman Mike Garvie.

"I don't know if it was the same person," he said.

As of yesterday, $830 was the average sales price for Philadelphia Series tickets, he said, while Yankees sales were averaging $488.

StubHub had a similar Philadelphia figure, $838 - down a bit from last year's $903, said spokeswoman Joelle Ferrer.

Sellers set their own prices, not StubHub, she pointed out.

"Often for big events like this, a handful of optimistic sellers list their tickets at unreasonable prices," she said. "Realistically, these tickets do not sell because they do not fall within the market demand.

"This is certainly not a front for anything else," she added.

Whatever the real prices are, they could also be heading up.

Suppose the Phillies take a 3-1 lead, the way they did against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"Oh, my God, can you imagine the Phillies having a clinching game of the World Series against the Yankees in Philadelphia? It would definitely be the biggest ticket in Philadelphia sports history," Conaway said.