Phillies Pitcher Matt Strahm Disagrees With MLB’s New Policy Extending Beer Sales

This week, Phillies reliever Matt Strahm joined the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast to talk about a problem affecting baseball stadiums nationwide: the time of beer sales.

Phillies Pitcher Matt Strahm Disagrees With MLB’s New Policy Extending Beer Sales

Beer sales in baseball were formerly prohibited after the seventh inning, according to the sport’s long-standing rule. It was clear why that rule was in place: to give spectators some time to collect themselves before leaving for home after the game.

However, some clubs have chosen to change their stadium beer policy and now sell alcohol into the eighth inning as a result of new pace-of-play regulations speeding up games. One of the clubs that amended its alcohol policy was the Brewers, followed by the Rangers and the Diamondbacks.

In response to reduced game hours this season, some baseball teams changed their alcohol sale laws, and at least one major leaguer isn’t a fan of the modification.

In a recent podcast, Phillies pitcher Matt Strahm expressed his disapproval of extending alcohol sales past the customary seventh-inning cutoff time, citing “common sense” and the “safety of fans.”

“The reason we stopped [selling alcohol in] the seventh before was to give our fans time to sober up and drive home safe, correct?” Strahm said on the “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast. “So now with a faster-pace game — and me just being a man of common sense — if the game is going to finish quicker, would we not move the beer sales back to the sixth inning to give our fans time to sober up and drive home?

“Instead, we’re going to the eighth, and now you’re putting our fans and our family at risk driving home with people who have just drank beers 22 minutes ago.”

“I’m not surprised. When you mess with billionaires’ dollars, to find a way to make their dollars back. My thing is, when you’re looking at the safety of your fans, that’s probably not the smartest decision to extend it into the eighth. And again, just 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 the sales in the sixth.”

Strahm’s reasoning is sound, but there won’t be any uniformity in the laws as long as clubs are free to choose their own actions on a stadium-by-stadium basis.

 

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