With games happening much faster, Rockies will let you drink longer

Major League Baseball games are quicker now than they have been in generations, thanks to the newly-instituted pitch clock. Last year, games in the first 11 days of the season averaged three hours, nine minutes. This year, they were 31 minutes shorter.

And for the Colorado Rockies, notorious for lengthy “Coors Canaveral” slugfest slogs at 20th and Blake, the change has been profound.

Last year, their first 13 games took an average of three hours, 10 minutes to complete. This year, those initial 13 games took an average of two hours, 33 minutes. In essence, the changes wiped the equivalent of roughly 1.5 to 2 innings off the board.

The Rockies haven’t had a three-hour game yet this season. By this time last year, they had 10.

There is less downtime in baseball. That also means less time for concession stands to peddle their wares. And for many fans for whom Coors Field is the biggest and best outdoor bar in the state, it also means less time for beer.

So, to account for the unintended consequence of the pitch clock, the Rockies announced that alcohol sales will now extend to the end of the eighth inning when their next homestand begins April 17.

pic.twitter.com/8g2ypfRbWE

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) April 13, 2023

The Rockies aren’t the first team to extend alcohol sales deeper into games. Earlier this week, the Arizona Diamondbacks, Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers also declared that they would extend alcohol sales into the eighth inning. The Baltimore Orioles already had the longer window.

MLB does not have — and has not had — a standardized policy on the cessation of alcohol sales. Most teams used the seventh inning as a standard, although some cut off sales after six innings. One reason why sales ended with multiple innings left was concerns about increased crime rates and intoxicated drivers in the wake of games.

Whether one unintended consequence leads to another is to be determined. But at least for now, while the length of games is down, the window of clock time in which to buy beer will be nearly the same as it was before.

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