A day at the ballpark doesn’t really need a perfect sales pitch. Baseball season is the flag-bearer of springtime, and there’s no better way to spend a warm summer night than sitting in the stands, watching your favorite MLB team while sipping on a cold beer.

But being an inherently good thing doesn’t mean it can’t be even better.

Everybody loves to get something for free, or get more of something for less money, so special promotion and giveaway events can turn an already great experience into an awesome one. Bobbleheads, games honoring those who serve, concerts and the always popular fireworks night are some of the ways MLB teams treat their fans.

However, just because a home game on the schedule is given the magical designation of “promotional” doesn’t mean that what’s being promoted is a good idea, much less worth the bigger crowd of promotion-crazed fans. People may love free stuff and extra perks, but everyone has walked away from a “free” giveaway (at least once in their life) wondering, “Why did I just do that?”

The 2015 MLB season is just around the corner, and with it a new slate of special promotional events and the coveted giveaways that, on a whole, are why spending a day or night at the ballpark is restitution for the winter that preceded it.

These are the best and worst MLB promotions of the 2015 season.

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