The increased pace of play in MLB this season has led to concessions on ballpark catering for some teams Selling beer past the seventh inningwhich worries Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Matt Strahm.
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Strahm said he fears for the “safety of the fans,” recalling in an interview with the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast that the reason the vast majority of organizations stopped selling liquor after the seventh inning was because of this , “allowing viewers to sober up and drink their car.
“Now that meetings are happening faster […], why not bring the end of beer sales to the sixth inning to give them time to regain their sobriety? also wondered the shooter, whose words were echoed by ESPN website.
“Instead, it’s sold out through eighth, which puts fans and our families at risk of traveling home with people who were drinking beers 22 minutes earlier,” Strahm continued.
Several teams are considering it
Since the games are conditionally shorter this season the stopwatch that pitchers now have to respect, four teams decided to allow spectators to buy beer in the stadiums until the eighth inning. They are the Milwaukee Brewers, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Minnesota Twins and the Texas Rangers.
Others would consider following suit, says ESPN, which also recalls that there are areas around several major league baseball stadiums where fans can continue to consume alcohol even after food concessions are no longer in place.
Since the introduction of the new rule, which coincided with the start of the current season, the average playing time has decreased by 31 minutes.