Some Major League Baseball stadiums will sell alcohol until the eighth inning to short combat games due to the implementation of the shot clock.
With games approximately 31 minutes shorter this season, four teams have announced that the sale of alcohol will be extended beyond the traditional seventh-inning cutoff.
A beer vendor holds cans of Coors Light and Miller Lite beer at American Family Field on June 24, 2022 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Patricio McDermott/Getty Images)
The Arizona Diamondbacks, Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers and Minnesota Twins have made alcohol available until the eighth inning as games have picked up speed, according to The Associated Press.
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But not everyone agrees with the idea.
Philadelphia Phillies relief pitcher Matt Strahm joined the «Baseball Isn’t Boring» podcast and pushed for expanded beer sales.
«The reason we stopped him in the seventh earlier was to give our fans time to sober up and drive home safely,» Strahm said. «Right? So now, with a faster paced game, and me being a man of common sense, if the game is going to end faster, wouldn’t we move the beer sales again to the sixth inning to give our fans time to sober up and drive home?
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Beer vendor Rocco Caputo working during a game between the Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field on August 23, 2022 in Chicago. (Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)
«Instead, let’s go to the eighth [inning]And now you’re putting our fans and family at risk by driving home with people who just had beers 22 minutes ago.»
Rick Schlesinger, the Brewers’ president of business operations, said the team will extend beer sales on an experimental basis and did not rule out returning to the seventh-inning rule.
«If it turns out that this is causing a problem or we think it might cause a problem, we’ll go back to what we’ve done previously,» Schlesinger said.
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Matt Strahm of the Philadelphia Phillies throws against the New York Phillies at Yankee Stadium on April 4, 2023 in the Bronx. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
«When you mess with billionaires’ dollars, they find a way to get their dollars back,» Strahm continued. «But my thing is, when you look at the safety of your fans, that’s probably not the smartest decision to extend it to eighth.»
«Again, being a common sense thinker, I think as a fan of the game and just looking out for people, it would make more sense to stop sales on the sixth [inning].»
Associated Press contributed to this report