Brewers Experimenting With Selling Beer Through 8th Inning Due To Shorter Games

Major League Baseball Games are getting shorter and the Milwaukee Brewers — fittingly enough — are looking for a way to keep that from cutting into beer sales.

A lot of people have been hailing Major League Baseball's new rules for condensing the overall run-time of games. For most of us, it's a good thing, but most of us aren't responsible for selling concessions.

The Brewers have decided to experiment with selling suds at American Family Field beyond the typical seventh-inning cutoff. The reason for that is simple. With games running shorter than they have in years, there's less time to sell beer to fans before the cut-off point.

The seventh-inning cutoff isn't a hard fast rule. Teams decide when the wrap-up beer sales, and the seventh inning just sort of became the tradition.

So, why not bump it back an inning?

“This is of the fact that the games are shorter," President of Business Operations Rick Schlesinger told Milwaukee's WISN, "From a time perspective, we're probably looking at selling beer for the same amount of time by extending to the eighth inning that we did last year through the seventh.”

See, makes a lot of sense doesn't it? It's the Theory of Beer Sales Relativity.

Major League Baseball's new pitch clock rules have been largely responsible for shortening games, as well as beer-sale windows. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

Brewers Games Have Been Way Shorter Already This Season

It didn't take the Brewers long to pick up on this being something to take a look at. According to MLB, the Brewers' first six games averaged just 2 hours and 34 minutes. Not one of those games in a pair of three-game series against the Cubs and Mets cracked the three-hour mark. That was even with the Brewers putting up 7 or more runs in four of those six.

MLB reports that by comparison, last season, all six of the Brewers' first six games went over three hours and averaged out to 3 hours and 19 minutes.

Do you have any idea how much beer a Brewers fan could drink in that extra forty-five minutes?

Keep in mind that this is just an experiment. Granted, it's an experiment that most of us can probably predict the outcome of. It's almost as easy to call as the final result of baking soda vinegar being dumped into a paper mache volcano.

More time=More beer sold.

It's simple, frosty, delicious math, folks.

It seemed like the way the pitch clock was shortening the game would necessitate changes like this. It'll be interesting to see if other teams follow the Brewers' lead, or maybe open the gates early to allow fans to buy an extra brew or two before the game.

It's important to remember that safety is priority Numero Uno, and Schlesinger said the team will monitor the situation to make sure people aren't overserved.

“I'm comfortable that our people are going to be monitoring the situation well and making sure that people who shouldn't be served won’t be served, regardless of what inning it is,” he said.

“The vast majority of fans behave responsibly."

Please don't ruin this for everyone else, Brewers fans...

Follow on Twitter: @Matt_Reigle