Americans, and baseball players, are drinking less than ever Kendall BakerSeptember 9, 2025 at 10:24 PM 1 Yahoo Sports AM is our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it every weekday morning.
- - Americans, and baseball players, are drinking less than ever
Kendall BakerSeptember 9, 2025 at 10:24 PM
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🚨 Headlines
🏈 Vikings 27, Bears 24: Minnesota stormed back to beat Chicago thanks to the brilliant play of J.J. McCarthy, whose NFL debut started slow but finished strong as he went 6/8 with 101 total yards and 3 TDs in the Vikings' 21-point fourth quarter.
⚽️ Historic trade: The North Carolina Courage are reportedly trading USWNT midfielder Jaedyn Shaw to NJ/NY Gotham FC for an NWSL record-shattering $1.25 million, more than twice as much as the previous record for an intraleague trade.
📺 YouTube's record stream: The Chargers' win over the Chiefs on Friday drew 17.3 million global viewers and set the record for the most concurrent viewers ever on a YouTube live stream.
⚾️ Trea lands on IL: Trea Turner, who leads the NL with a .305 average, was placed on the 10-day IL with a strained hamstring. The Phillies hope to have their shortstop back in time for the playoffs.
🏈 Bigsby to Philly: The Eagles have acquired running back Tank Bigsby from the Jaguars in exchange for a fifth- and sixth-round pick in next year's draft, marking Philly's fifth trade in the past month.
⚾️ Americans, and baseball players, are drinking less
(Davis Long/Yahoo Sports)
America is drinking less than ever — and the same is true for baseball players, who are increasingly choosing not to imbibe.
From Yahoo Sports' Jake Mintz:
There is a mini-fridge, stocked with beer, tucked away under a counter inside the Mets' home clubhouse.
More often than not, a metal laundry cart obstructs the cooler from view and from use. Not that it gets much action, anyway.
After most games, those rows of Millers and Coors are left untouched. Every once in a while, a particularly thirsty Met will wander over and scoop out a cold one … but generally, the box of suds is a vestige of an era gone by.
It is much more common these days to see a half-dressed ballplayer downing a cherry juice, a smoothie or a protein shake than it is to see one nursing a lager, an ale or a fifth of whiskey. Such is professional baseball in 2025.
Conversations with more than 30 major-league players, coaches and front-office personnel point toward a definitive trend: Ballplayers are drinking less than ever before.
Nearly all the figures interviewed for this story pointed to a combination of factors behind the downtick in boozing. Some emphasized the omnipresence of social media and the unease of being intoxicated in public as a public figure. Others focused on the increasing legality and availability of marijuana, preferred by many as an alternative to drinking.
One throughline for everybody was the heightened level of competition in the big leagues. Pitchers have never thrown harder, hitters have never swung faster; sacrificing any edge for a hard night out is simply not worth the trade-off.
Whatever the reason, baseball's teetotalling turn mirrors a larger societal trend. Last month, a Gallup poll revealed that a record-low 54% of American adults said they consume alcohol. That decline has been propelled, in large part, by young adults and Gen-Zers.
A 2023 study from the University of Michigan found that "Binge drinking in the past two weeks was reported by 27.2% of young adults [ages 19-30], which is the lowest level the study has ever recorded. Daily use of alcohol also reached a new all-time study low in 2023, reported by 3.6% of young adults."
Babe Ruth pours a beer in his New York City apartment, circa 1935. (Bettmann Archives/Getty Images)
The relationship between ball and booze dates to the game's earliest days. Babe Ruth, the sport's original mythmaker, was renowned for his beer consumption. … The 1980s Mets, a raucous bachelor party disguised as a ballclub, would drink together before, during and after games.
The days of a larger-than-life personality such as Derek Jeter peppering the tabloids with rowdy nightlife exploits are long gone. … These days, being out after sundown with a drink in hand is just not worth the attention it brings.
Instead, today's baseball stars give the tabloids virtually nothing to work with. When Paul Skenes made an appearance at a bar in Omaha during the College World Series back in June, he sipped water from a plastic cup. Aaron Judge is a homebody with a newborn. The same is true for Shohei Ohtani, famous for his dedication to a regimented sleep routine.
But just because postgame activities have become less rambunctious doesn't mean players have cut out vice altogether.
One big-league manager, when asked why he thought players were drinking less, leaned back in his chair and chuckled before pinching his thumb and pointer finger together at his lips to mime the puffing of a joint.
"I don't think guys drink as much because now they smoke and play video games," an All-Star pitcher opined. As one National League reliever explained it: "Once my weed consumption went up, my ERA went down."
Keep reading.
🎾 Tokito Oda won't stop winning
(Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Japan's Tokito Oda made history last week at the US Open, winning the wheelchair singles title to complete the career Golden Slam at the tender age of 19 and follow in the footsteps of his fellow countryman — the GOAT of wheelchair tennis.
The Golden Slam: Oda dropped just one set during his dominant run in New York, where he claimed his seventh career major title after winning one Australian Open (2024), two Wimbledons (2023, 2025) and three French Opens (2023-25). Add in last summer's gold medal in Paris and he's just the second man with a career Golden Slam in wheelchair singles.
The first? That would be Japan's Shingo Kunieda, who won an astonishing 28 wheelchair singles Grand Slams from 2007-22 to go along with Paralympic gold in 2008, 2012 and 2020. He also won 22 majors (and one gold) in doubles.
Oda and Kunieda are joined by Diede de Groot of the Netherlands as the only singles players with a career Golden Slam* in wheelchair tennis, which uses roughly the same rules as standard tennis but allows for the ball to bounce twice.
What he's saying: Oda, who began using a wheelchair at age nine following a bone cancer diagnosis, described what it's like to follow in the footsteps of a legend after winning his maiden Slam back in 2023:
"To be honest, there is pressure. People overseas call me 'Next Shingo'. I am happy, but at the same time … I want people to know me as Tokito Oda. I know I have what it takes to make that happen, and I have the responsibility to deliver good results."
Consider them delivered.
*The other Golden Slams: Aside from Oda, Kunieda and de Groot, just five players have won a career Golden Slam in singles: Steffi Graf, Serena Williams, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
⚾️ Verlander passes Perry on K's list
(Henry Russell/Yahoo Sports)
Justin Verlander keeps etching his name in the MLB record books. His latest accomplishment? Passing Gaylord Perry for eighth on the all-time strikeout leaderboard.
By the numbers: The three-time Cy Young winner has 3,536 career strikeouts in just 3,543.1 innings — by far the fewest among pitchers in the top 10. Randy Johnson (4,135.1 IP) is the only other one who's thrown fewer than 4,700 innings. Another way to visualize that? Strikeouts per 9.
Verlander's career K/9 of 8.98 is the 35th-best mark ever and the third-best on the list above, trailing only Randy Johnson (10.61) and Nolan Ryan (9.55), a pair of freaks put on this earth for the sole purpose of striking out hitters.
The other seven guys are more a testament to longevity, with an average K/9 of 6.64 that would rank 258th all-time. Walter Johnson's K/9 of 5.34, the lowest of the 10, ranks just 527th.
Turn back the clock: Verlander, 42, isn't just playing out the string and collecting empty stats; he's put up a sterling 2.61 ERA across his last nine starts for the Giants, who've won 12 of their last 15 games to move within three games of the final wild card berth.
What's next: Verlander needs 39 strikeouts over his final four starts to pass Don Sutton for seventh. And if the elder statesman returns for another season as planned he could realistically pass Bert Blyleven for fifth.
📺 Watchlist: Tuesday, Sept. 9
(New York Yankees/Getty Images)
⚾️ Tigers at Yankees | 7pm ET, TBS
Detroit (82-62) and New York (80-63) are both locks to make the playoffs, though the Yankees would love join the Tigers as likely division winners. While Detroit holds an 8.5-game lead over the Guardians in the AL Central, New York trails the Blue Jays by 2 games in the AL East.
⚽️ USMNT vs. Japan | 7:30pm, TNT
The USMNT fell to 7-6 in 2025 with another sub-par performance in Saturday's loss to South Korea. Can they bounce back tonight in Columbus, Ohio, and snap their two-match losing streak?
More to watch:
🏀 EuroBasket: Poland vs. Turkey (10am, DAZN); Greece at Lithuania (2pm, DAZN) … Giannis Antetokounmpo headlines the quarterfinal slate.
🏀 WNBA: Sparks at Mercury (10pm, NBA); Valkyries at Storm (10pm, League Pass) … The Sparks (20-22) and Storm (22-21) are fighting for the eighth and final playoff spot.
🚴 Vuelta a España: Stage 16 (8:30am, Peacock) … Two-time Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard leads by 48 seconds with six stages left.
Today's full slate.
🏈 NFL trivia
(Michael Owens/Getty Images)
Reigning MVP Josh Allen has leapfrogged Lamar Jackson as the MVP favorite (+350 at BetMGM) following Buffalo's comeback win over Baltimore on Sunday night.
Question: If Allen repeats as MVP, he'll be the third player to win in back-to-back years this century. Who were the other two? (One did it twice.)
Hint: 2003-04, 2008-09, 2020-21.
Answer at the bottom.
🏋️♀️ "The Mountain" sets world record
(Giphy)
Thor Björnsson, who played "The Mountain" on "Game of Thrones," broke his own deadlift world record on Saturday with a weight of 1,124 pounds.
The Viper never stood a chance, did he…
Trivia answer: Peyton Manning (2003-04, 2008-09) and Aaron Rodgers (2020-21)
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